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^iip ://vyww.arGhrve..org/det^i Is/pittsbu rg haljeg h01 th u r 



PittsburghMllegheny 




IN THE 



Centennial Year 



PITTSBURGH 



AN D 



ALLEGHENY 



IN THE 



Centennial Year 



-BY-/ 

GEORGE H. THURSTON 




PITTSBURGH: 
^. A. ANDERSON & SON, BOOK AND JOB PRINTERS, 99 FIFTH AVENUE. 

1876. 



\'^'* * 



f^. 



ENTERED ACCORDING TO ACT OF CONGRESS, IN TEE YEAR 187^^ 

BY GEORGE H. THURSTON, 

IN TEE OFFICE OF THE LIBRARIAN OF C0NGRESS,2AT 
WASHINGTON, D. C. 



V 



</?sS 



CHAPTER I 



PEN PICTURES OF PITTSBURGH. 



On the 24th day of November, 1753, no human habitation occupied the point 
of land where Pittsburgh has since arisen. On either side a river, flowing from 
nearly opposite points of the compass, swept to their junction in a grander river; 
from whence, in after years, ships, built of trees then growing on the banks of 
those two streams, sailed without hindrance down over two thousand miles of 
forest bordered river, to cross the waters of the great southern Gulf, and breast 
the storms of the oceans beyond. 

For the control of this point of land the elder Pitt, and Louis XIY, were al- 
ready scheming. The Indian trapper, and adventurous scout, the Jesuit gliding 
along the great rivers in his bark canoe, or traveling, Indian led, over the forest 
trails, had all brought stories, and told tales, of the wonderful country through 
which numerous rivers gave facilities for travel and transportation. In these 
facilities for commerce and transportation the statesmen of France and England 
saw the substratum of a wonderful empire. Looking to the control of '^ La Belle 
Rivere^^^ with its head waters but one hundred miles from the great lakes, and 
three hundred miles of the sea coast as the key to it all, they placed their finger 
on the map where join the Allegheny and Monongahela as the point of power. 
From thence along those rivers, and throughout that great country, should of 
right issue military expeditions, commercial adventures, and the flood of popu- 
lation. How the past approves the acute statesmanship of those rulers ; how 
the present confirms their vision of the great empire. 

At this point, on the 24th of November, 1753, probably its only human occu- 
pant, stood one who was to wrest from the grasp of European rule the country 
they coveted, and be the father of the great empire those Trans-Atlantic courts 
foresaw such wonderful navigation facilities must create, and increase. 

Here then stood Washington, the projector of Pittsburgh, in thought if not in 
actual plan, for he records in his journal at that date — ''I think it extremely well 
situated for a fort, as it has absolute command of both rivers." It is probable, that 
standing in the bleak November day on this point of land, his mind rapidly over- 
ran the future, and saw from the fort he had already projected, ^^ westward 
the star of empire take its way." Before him rolled the waters of a great river^ 
sweeping to the Mexican Gulf, and giving outlet and egress to the nations of the 
earth. Behind him was already pressing, despite the hardships of pioneer life, 
and the dangers of Indian warfare, the power of emigration. Around him rose, 



Gil 



Pittsburgh and Allegheny 



in all its grandeur the primeval forest, and who can say what prophetic thoughts 
in the warm fancy of the then young man sprung and grew. 

^'Then here he stood among primeval trees, 

Here vv^here the rivers meet he chose the station, 
And with unerring eye prophetic sees 

This point must be the head of navigation.""^ 

Truth is stranger than fiction, says the adage. In the great city of Pittsburgh, 
extending for miles around the point where in that November day Washington 
stood, alone, ''and thought the future o'er;" and in the forty millions of people, 
with all their wealth of farms, factories, mines and cities, to which the business 
of Pittsburgh has access, by her rivers and her railroads, the reality outswell the 
ambitious dreams of the elder Pitt, the grasping schemes of the fourteenth Louis, 
and all Washington's mind foreshadowed when he pronounced Pittsburgh the 
gate-wa}^ to the west. Perusing these lines at the close of the first century of 
American independence, may not it be confidently said that where all the same 
primary elements of growth still exist, as they do, within Pittsburgh's control, 
that in the future her wonderful increase will be repeated, and, in a period of 
years yet unborn, truth be again cited as stranger than fiction by he who shall 
then tell the story of Pittsburgh's growth. 

On the lYth of February, 1754, less than three months after Washington 
^' chose the station," the fort that he projected, the embryo of Pittsburgh that was 
to be, saw its birth in the stockade erected by Mr. Trent ; and again in less than 
three months more, on April 24th, the unfinished stockade, commanded by Ensign 
Ward, with forty men, was surrendered to Captain Contrecoeur, who at once 
proceeded to erect Fort Duquesne. 

''How changed the scene since by the morning light. 
Poor Ensign Ward saw dimly from the high-land 
A fleet of perogues with their banner white, 
And heard the thrilling war whoop at "Herr's island." 

Wrapt in his blanket in the hindmost boat, 
De Contrecoeur the motley crews commanded, 
Then here the flag of France was first afloat. 
Then here for the first time were cannon landed."^ 

Not long did the flag of France blow out clear and white before the breezes 
from ofi" the Allegheny. On November 24th, 1758, just five years after Washing- 
ton had stood at the point and projected the fort, the French, alarmed by the 
approach of General Forbes, set fire to their magazine, burnt all their improve- 
ments, and evacuated the place in boats. 



* "Su>co-tash/' by W. 11. Denny. 



In the Centennial Year: 



6 



On the 25th of November, 1758, the remains of Fort Pitt were taken possession 
of by General Forbes. The army was immediatel}' set at work erecting a small 
military Avork on the east bank of the Monongahela, and this was the first Fort 
Pitt, capable of holding two hundred men, from whence arose the name of 
Pittsburgh, as the settlement was called from the 1st of January, 1759, in the 
newspapers and letters of the day. In the summer of 1759, General Stanwix 
arrived and commenced the erection of the second Fort Pitt, which the following 
engraving shows the plan of and its position to the present streets of the city. 




a, Barracks, already built b, Commandant's House, not built, c, Store House, d, d, Powder 
Magazines, e, Casemate, completed. /, Store House for Flour, &c. r/, Wells, in two of which are 
pumps. //, Fort Duquesne. i, i, Horn Work, to cover French Barracks. k\ First Fort Pitt, 
destroyed, r?, Sally Port. 



6 Pittsburgh and Allegheny 

This plan is a reduced copy of the draft made bj the constructing engineer, 
Rutzer, in 1761, afterwards given to George the III, and presented bj George IV 
to the British Museum. The Hon. Richard Biddle, during a visit to London in 
1830, had a copy made from tlie original; from which, we presume, was made 
the engraving we have here copied. 

In 1764, Colonel Boquet built a redoubt outside of the fort, on the spot 
marked with a "^ in the plan, which is still standing. 

The following description of the fort and the village is from a diary kept bj" 
one James Kenny, who had a trader's store at the fort in 1761 : 

11th mo : 19th. — The Fort Banks here is very near raised, which makes it look 
much stronger than it was in times of more danger ; by accounts ye front next 

ye inhabitants being of brick, and corners of ye angle of hewn stone, about 

foot high, ye back part next ye point where ye two rivers meets being of earth, 
and sodded all so that it grows thick of long grass, that was done last year, and 
they have mowed ye bank several times this summer ; it 's four squair with a row 
of barracks along each squair, three rows of which are wooden frame work, and 
ye row on ye back side next ye point is brick ; also a large brick house built 
this summer in ye south east corner, ye roof now aputing on, having fine steps at 
ye door of hewn freestone, a cellar all under it ; at ye back of ye barracks opens 
ye doors of ye magazines, vaults and dungeons : lying under ye great banks of 
earth thrown out of ye great trenches, all round in these are kept ye stores of 
ammunition, etc., and prisoners that are to be tried for their lives ; in these vaults 
there is no light, but do they carry lanterns, and on ye south east bastion stands 
a high poal like a mast and a top mast to hoist j^e flag on, which is hoisted on 
every first day of ye week from about eleven to one o'clock, and on state days, 
etc. ; there are three wells of water walled in ye fort, and a squair of clear 
ground in ye inside of about two acres. 

20th. — I have been informed by a young man that was ordered by ye Com- 
manding officer, Collonel Boquet, (this summer), to number all ye dwelling 
houses without ye fort, marking ye number on each door ; that there was above 
one hundred houses, but ye highest number I have seen, by better accounts, there 
is one hundred and fifty houses, to take notice of I think was seventy-eight, these 
being ye inhabitants of Pittsburg, where two years ago I have seen all ye houses 
that were without ye little fort, they had then, thrown down, only one, which 
stands yet, also two that was within that little fort is now standing, being ye 
hospital now, all ye rest being built since, which if ye place continue to increase 
near this manner, it must soon be very large, which seems likely to me. 

12 mo : 4. — Many of ye inhabitants have hired a schoolmaster, and subscribed 
above sixty pounds for this year for him, he has about twenty scholars, likewise, 
ye soberer sort of people seem to long for some public way of worship, so ye 
schoolmaster, etc., reads ye Litany and Common Prayer on ye first day to a Con- 
gregation of different principles, (he beings a Prisbiterant,) where they behave 
very grave, (as I hear) on ye occasion, ye children are brought to Church as they 
call it. 

12 mo : 25th. — A young Indian man brought us four turkeys, saying, that he 
was recommended by several of his acquaintances to come to ye Quaker who 
would use him very well, and having bought them and paid him six shillings 
cash, besides victuals and drink, he going out heard of a better market, so came 
back and got ye turkeys, delivering ye money again, but his second Chap not 
pleasing him in dealing, he brought them back to us and had his money again, 
but he said Dam it several times at ye second Chap." 



In theZCentennidl Year, 



It was not until 1764 that Pittsburgh began to take form as an embryo city. 
In that year Col. John Campbell laid out a plan of lots near the fort, which plan 
is now embraced in four squares of the present city. 

Two years after, the Rev. Charles Beaty, under date of September, 1766, men- 
tions Pittsburgh in. his journal as ^^ some kind of a town without the fort.^'' When 
only this curt, disparaging remark is all that is applicable at that time to the em- 
bryo city, the inference can only be that the appearance of the little settlement 
without the fort was anything but suggestive of its future greatness. This infer- 
ence is strengthened by the record of Arthur Lee in his journal, in 1784, nearly 
twenty years after, of ^'I believe the place will never be considerable." 

In May, 1769, the survey of the manor of Pittsburgh was completed, and em- 
braced 5,766 acres. Shortly after this time we find, in the journal of George 
Washington, the next record of the progress of the city of Pittsburgh. Under 
the date of October, 1770, he being then on his way to the Kanawha to examine 
And locate lands for himself and others, the following pen and ink picture of 
Pittsburgh is made by Washington's hand: 

"We lodged in what is called the town, distant about 300 yards from the fort. 
-X- -:f -x- The houses, which are built of logs and ranged in streets, are on the 
Monongahela, and I suppose may number twenty, and inhabited by Indian 
traders." 

There appears to be a conflict here between "ye Quaker," James Kenny, from 
whose journal of 1761 we have just quoted, and Washington, as to the number 
of houses. James Kenny giving seventy-eight, nine years previous. 

In May, 1776, Pittsburgh was a small out-lying or western fort. From its 
ramparts the Cross of St. George blew out clear and fair before the Spring winds, 
sweeping breezily up between the two ranges of thickly wooded hills lying on 
either side of the river, that, hardly a stone's throw from the sally port of the 
fort, sprung from the junction of the clear Allegheny and darker Monongahela 
rivers. 

On every hand, save where the little village and the few cleared fields around 
basked in the warm spring sun, the dense forest clothed hill and bottom, ravine 
And river's edge. Down from the northeast on the one side, swollen with the 
melting northern snows, came sweeping the clear, bright waters of the Allegheny. 
From the south, on the other side, glided sullenly to their union with the north- 
ern stream, the tawny waters of the Monongahela. Flowing away from the 
green point stretching from the ramparts of Fort Pitt to the waters' edge, rolled 
from out the joining waters of the Allegawi"^' and the Monongahela the La Belle 
Rivere of the French, the 0-hi-o of the aborigine, to be, in years to come, a 
highway of commerce, wonderful in its towns and cities and the traffic on its 
waters. 



* A remnant of an Indian tribe has been foundjin the west with this name, and some think 
at the proper original name of the Allegheny. 



8 Pittsburgh and Allegheny 

Up into the clear atmosphere wreathed lazily, or swayed fantastically, in the^ 
breeze, the pale blue smoke of wood-fires from the two score of houses which, 
formed the village, shadowy forerunners of the dense black columns that were- 
in an hundred years to be shooting up in every direction for miles around the- 
location of the little settlement of 1776. Scantily, here and there, about the 
doors of the few cabins, or along the one street, grouped cannie Scot and blithe 
Prenchman^, the plucky Englishman, the stolid Indian, and the thin, sinewy native- 
American trader and scout. Before the entrance to the fort the red coated 
soldier of George the Third paced lazily his monotonous beat, the clank of his- 
musket, and accoutrements, making a faint fore-reaching echo of the clang, and 
clash, of the machinery that then far down the aisles of time was moving ta- 
forge the bar and drive the plane, to smelt the ore, and shape the metal, and 
wake the echo of over five hundred miles of streets, and render noisy the day audi 
clamorous the night, in a hundred years from then. Thus in May, 1776, spark- 
ling in the sunshine ran the rivers, green and fresh swayed the trees, bright, 
and red waved the banner of England, idly about the fort lounged the repre-- 
sentatives of five distinct people, and quietly under the warm May sun rested' 
^^ De-un-da-ga^^^ as by the Seneca Indians this embryo of Pittsbugh was called. 

'^A hundred years ago what sylvan beauty 
Did nature on this almost island crowd, "^"^ 
Where Traffic now from altars grim and sooty, 
Doth overcome us like a winter's cloud." f 

In December, 1784,"^"" we find in the journal of Arthur Lee, who had, with Dr... 
Franklin and Silas Deane, been a Commissioner to the Cfourt of Versailles, the-- 
following picture of Pittsburgh at that date. He says : " Pittsburgh is inhabited 
almost entirely by Scots and Irish, who live in paltry log houses.^' Fresh from the 
French court the rudeness of a frontier settlement seems to have made no favor- 
able impression on his fastidious tastes. He also writes, '^The banks of the Mo> 
nongahela on the west or opposite side of Pittsburgh are steep, close to the river- 
and about two hundred yards high. About one-third of the way from the top is^ 
a vein of coal above one of the rocks. The coal is considered good and is burnt, 
in the town." How astounded would be the ghostly Mr. Lee could he re-visit; 
the scene and see how the coal he so curtly mentions is now burnt in the town,, 
and the acres on acres of it that are floated away. Mr. Lee also writes, '' There is; 
a great deal of small trade carried on, goods being brought at the vast expense of" 
forty-five shillings per cwt. from Philadelphia and Baltimore. There are in the 

**The site of Pittsburgh was once almost an island from a chain of ponds stretching along its* 
eastern side, where Smithfield street now is. These ponds were at that early period the resort of 
wild ducks. 

fSuc-co-tash, by W. H. Denny. 

* It was in January, 1784, that the first sale of lots were made by John Penn, Jr., to Isaac Craig 
and Stephen Bayard. Iti June, 1784, the laying out of the town was completed. 



In the Centennial Year. 



town four attorneys^ two doctors, and not a priest of any persuasion, no church 
nor chapel. -J^- -^ -5^ The phice I believe will never be considerable." Mr. Lee 
did not evidently, to use a slang phrase of the present day, ''take much stock"" 
in the town peopled with Scots and Irish, living in paltry log houses. But works 
have been better than his faith. As it is after his statement that there are four 
attorneys and two doctors in the town that he records his belief that the place 
will never be considerable, it might be the subject of an interesting metaphysical 
inquiry how far this professional outlook gave rise to his estimate of the fu- 
ture prospect of the town, especially in connection with the almost despairing^ 
statement — "and not a priest of any persuasion, no church nor chapel." Cer- 
tainly this is not a very flattering picture of the embryo city of Pittsburgh. With, 
a population whose characteristic national traits were likely to give full employ- 
ment to the four attorney's and two doctors, and not a priest of any persuasion to- 
counteract what might be a Darwinian exposition of the survival of the fittest^, 
poor Arthur Lee may perhaps be well excused from not investing in corner lots 
in this little frontier town of "paltry log houses," containing about four hundred 
inhabitants. This population we infer from an account given by Dr. Hildreth, of 
Marietta, who, with a body of New England emigrants, arrived at Pittsburgh on 
April 3d, 1788, on the "May Flower." Dr. Hildreth, after giving a statement of 
the starting of the "Ma}' Flower" from Robbstown — now known as West Xewtoa 
— the passage down the Monongahela, and the arrival at Pittsburgh, says: 
"Pittsburgh then contained four or five hundred inhabitants, several retail stores^ 
and a small garrison of troops was kept in old Fort Pitt. To our travelers who- 
had lately seen nothing but trees and rocks, with here and there a solitary hut^ 
it seemed quite a large town. The houses are chiefly built of logs, but now and. 
then one had assumed the appearance of neatness and comfort." 

Niles Register, vol. 30, page 436, says, "that Pittsburgh in 1786 contained: 
thirty-six log houses, one stone, one frame, and five small stores.* At this dat^ 
the first newspaper west of the Allegheny Mountains was established. The first 
number of the Pittsburgh Gazette being issued on the 29th of July, 1786. Still' 
printed, ably edited and prosperous, the Gazette is rapidly nearing its Centennial,, 
but we doubt if its present proprietors, or any of the fraternity in the present" 
day, would venture on starting a newspaper in a community of thirty-six log 
houses with five retail stores, Avhere there was no regular mail route, and the. 
country around as thinly settled as the town. 

In 1789 we find the following description of Pittsburgh in a rare volume en- 
titled "An Historical Review of North America, printed at Dublin, Ireland,. 
1789," Says the author of the volume: "Pittsburgh is a neat, handsome town,, 
containing about four hundred houses ; it is situated at the confluence of the A1-. 
legheny and Monongahela rivers. It is expected this to2cn ivill in a few years become 
the emporium of the western country.'' The italics are given to mark the diff'erence. 

*In January, 1788, provisions were very ecarce, and flour rose to sixteen dollars a barrel; and in. 
January, 1779, bacon was one dollar per pound. 



10 Pittsburgh and Allegheny 

in opinion between Arthur Lee in 1784 and the writer of the volume just quoted, 
five years later. 

There seems to have been considerable difference in the statements of various 
authorities at that time as to the population of the town, and the number of 
houses it contained. A communication from Judge Breckenridge published in 
the first number of the Gazette, on the situation of the town of Pittsburgh, says : 
*'■ The town consists at present of about an hundred houses with buildings appur- 
tenent. More are daily added, and for some time past it has improved with 
an equal but continual pace. The inhabitants, men, women and children, are 
about fifteen hundred." Mr. Breckenridge has either made some mistake in the 
•estimate of the population or they stowed close, for his estimate gives fifteen 
persons to each house. As Niles' Register, quoted before, gives less than half 
the number of houses stated by Judge Breckenridge and Dr. Hildredth two years 
later, says ''Pittsburgh then contained four or five hundred inhabitants," and 
a census made of the borough in 1*796, and published in the Gazette of January 
:9th, of that year, states the population, ten years after Judge Breckenridge's 
statement, at only one thousand three hundred and ninety-five, it is probable that the 
I^iles Register record of houses, in 1*786, is correct, and that the population at 
that period, ninety years ago, was about four or five hundred. There was no 
mail carried to Pittsburgh at the time the Pittsburgh Gazette was first established, 
all correspondence of any nature being carried by travelers or a special express. 
In September, of 1*786, an order was made by Government to establish a post 
between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, but on the 1st of October, 1*790, — four 
years after the establishment of the mail — the postage for the preceding year 
was only one hundred and ten dollars and nmety-nine cents. 

On the 22d of April, 1*794, Pittsburgh was incorporated as a borough. In 
1800 the census gives Pittsburgh 1,565 inhabitants. Turning from the vision of 
Washington, standing, in 1*753, on the uninhabited point of land where Pittsburgh 
isince grew from the Fort Pitt of 1761, and the rude frontier village of Pittsburgh 
in 1776, we pass an hundred years, and the great city of Pittsburgh in 1876 rises 
in all its proportions, wealth and business, before us. 

One hundred years! what wonderous records they contain of change and 
progress. In them have had birth and growth the steamboat, the railroad, and 
the electric telegraph. It was from Pittsburgh the first steamboat, the "New 
Orleans," sailed upon the western waters. It was from Pittsburgh the first 
western railroad, the Ohio & Pennsylvania, reached its iron arms to grapple the 
growing commerce of the West, and it was from Pittsburgh the first line of tele- 
graph was built to the West. 

In that eventful century the American colonies of Great Britain passed from 
the appanage of a crown into a mighty nation. Where, in May, 1776, the flag of 
,St. George waved redly over the slight fort, around which gathered the little 
frontier village of an hundred persons, stands, in May, 1876, a world known city 



In the Centennial Year, 11 

of two hundred thousand people, from the tops of whose furnaces wave red 
banners of flame, the glowing standards of American industry. 

Where, in May, 1776, a little village stood on the verge of civilization, peering 
timidly into the forest beyond, in May, 1876, a great city stands, midway between 
an empire of population on the east and empire of population on the west. 
Twenty millions to the east of her, twenty millions to the west of her, while the 
electric telegraph, the railroad, and the steamboat, connect her with the world 
and its commerce. 

Throughout the nation, of which this city is such a central point, iron from 
its mills is found in every mart, its steel in the agricultural implements on every 
farm, and crowding from off the dealer's shelves the cutlery of Europe. Its glass 
is on the table of every hotel, and in the windows alike of city residence and 
frontier cottage. The smoke of its coal floats in the air from the Gulf of Mexico 
throughout the length of the Mississippi, and speeding across the country, 
glimpses are caught of it darkening the sky of little towns, that flit away behind 
the fleet locomotive, that can, and does, perhaps, claim Pittsburgh construction. 
As the train in the closing twilight rushes past cottage, village, and town, the 
bright light of its famed Petroleum is seen making brilliant with the evening 
lamp thousands of homes. Even on the hull of the staunch ship rolling with the 
swelling waves of the broad ocean the glitter of Pittsburgh's copper glints in 
the sunshine as she lifts w'ith the heaving wave, or is seen beautifying and bright- 
ening the machinery of the modern steamer, whether on our inland rivers, our 
great lakes, or grander ocean. 

Standing a sooty giant athwart the head waters of the Ohio ; — glowing with 
the blaze of hundreds of furnace fires, — swart and grimy with their smoke, 
Pittsburgh may well be proud of her past, and look with great hope to her fu- 
ture. Planted on one of the grandest fuel fields of the world, she has wonderful 
facilities for receiving crude minerals and other material, for the world's needg 
and consumptions in their manufactured forms. Equally able to distribute them, 
to consumers, with the grasp upon the supply trade of this country faintly outlined 
in the foregoing paragraph, what, if her people fail not to keep and cultivate the 
advantages and powers their position gives them, may not Pittsburgh be in the 
future under the same industries? Her past foretells that future, and predicts 
her growth, which, in years gone by, the pages of this volume show. 

In May, 1776, a little village of a few houses, clustering around a small fort, 
Pittsburgh and Allegheny cities, in May, 1876, is a great community, occupying 
an area of 22,000 acres, having 500 miles of streets, with more wards than a 
hundred years ago it had houses. The Monongahela river and the Allegheny, 
which in May, 1776, swept through miles of primitive forest before they inter- 
mingled their waters, now, in May, 1876, flow each through from six to eight miles 
of city, with its massive blocks of houses, its miles of paved and gas-lighted 
streets. 



12 Pittsburgh and Allegheny 



Where, in 17*76, a solitary Indian canoe or skiff here or there, crossing from 
the little village to the forest on the other side, formed the connection, now tea 
grand bridges span the waters of the rivers, and are but as sections of the streets- 
that extend for miles from their either ends. Where, as late as 1*784, it is recorded 
of the town there was ''no church nor chapel, no priest of any persuasion," there 
are in 1876 over one hundred and ninety churches, from whence arise praise and 
prayer to Him who holds the destinies of nations in His hands, and has not for- 
gotten Pittsburgh in the blessing which fall alike upon the just and the unjust. 

As no showing of Pittsburgh has, from its peculiar topographical configura- 
tion, presented or can fully picture the city, so is it equally difficult for the pea 
to give its portraiture in 1876. Built along the valleys of the two rivers, upoa 
the hill sides, up the ravines, and on the plain lying behind the ranges of hills- 
that border the Monongahela and Allegheny, no artist's sketch can present its- 
beauty or its picturesque views ; neither can the pen bring before the mind's eye 
of the reader its beautiful residences, the broad well-paved streets that for miles- 
and miles lie out of sight from the casual business visitor or the passing tourist. 

The traveler, simply passing through Pittsburgh, sees things under such a, 
gloom of smoke, that the beauty of the city outside of its business area is gen- 
erally unknown. The traveler approaching Pittsburgh from the East on the 
Pennsylvania Kailroad hardly suspects that the beautiful park-like country 
through which he is passing, dotted thick with attractive residences, picturesque 
grounds, and broad paved roads, over which the bright sunshine showers down and 
clear blue skies bend, is part of the famous "Smoky city," a portion of the great 
metal factory of the United States. Just as some chance remark conveys the idea 
that, for nearly twenty minutes he has been riding at rapid railroad speed through 
miles of Pittsburgh's fairest wards, he enters upon a region of smoke and fire^ 
and for two miles or more rides under canopies of smoke, past furnace and mill,, 
coke ovens and factories, to be, after a brief pause in the spacious Union Depot, 
of the Pennsylvania Railroad, drawn into the bowels of the earth, to travel en- 
tirely from one side of the city to the other under its houses and streets. Emerg- 
ing on the Monongahela river side of the city, he still pursues his course amid 
fire and smoke, past glass houses, steel works, rolling mills and foundries, for 
some two or three miles, to again pass into a land of sunshine and clear skies^ 
where still the houses of Pittsburgh merchants and manufacturers dot the land- 
scape and beautify the scenery. The ear has been so stunned by the whistle of 
the escaping steam, the clank of machinery, the din of metallic .reverberation, and 
the roar of forges in all directions ; that as the eye is prevented from compre- 
hending any of the landscape surroundings, the mind is equally confused in ob- 
taining any definite comprehension of the scope of its manufactures. The travelers- 
pass from under its clouds of smoke and beyond its ear distracting and pecu- 
liar noise with the one distinct idea that its manufactures must be great, and with. 
a feeling of curiosity to explore the mysteries of its workshops. 



In the Centennial Year, 13 



Thev have caught glimpses as they passed of half naked men throwing about 
in savage play huge masses of molten metal ; they have seen for a moment the 
interiors of great cavernous buildings, where stalwart, sooty men, were pulling 
iind hauling, and dragging about long bars of glowing metal which went twirling 
^nd slipping like fiery snakes through rapidly revolving cylinders ; they have 
-caught glimpses of streams of molten metal pouring like burning water through 
^gathered groups of workmen ; they have heard strange, demoniacal yells and 
shrieks, passed clouds of scalding vapor, glided for miles by sombre house, black 
•discolored churches and gloomy warehouses. They recede from its boundaries 
with an impression that they have passed through some city half enchanted, such 
:as Marco Palo and other old Venitian travelers, fabled to have found in the then 
unexplored region^ of the earth, a city of fire and smoke. 

And such is Pittsburgh in 1876 to the passing traveler as he enters it bj 
cither of the railroads that centres in the city. To the tourist who may spare 
the time to explore Pittsburgh there is, beside that region of fire and smoke, 
sections of calm delight, districts of great picturesque beauty.* 

It needs but the tourist, in the budding month of May, or in sunny June, or 
jgolden September, or russet October, to drive a foot pace through the famous 
once East Liberty valley, now comprising some of the wards of Pittsburgh to see 
the city aright. Broad, well-paved avenues stretch for miles throughout its 
space. Perched on jutting hill, or nestled in beautiful valleys or resting fairly 
on level plateaus, costly residences and charming cottages attract the eye on 
-every side. Beautiful grounds, rich with cultivated shrubbery, or picturesque 
vvith natural forest trees, charm the sight; and the whole impression is of driving 
through a beautiful park, within which elegant residences have been, by per- 
mission, built. Here and there a massive and costly church sends its towering 
spire up into the clear, sunshiny sky, while no din of machinery disturbs 
the sylvan quiet of the scene, or shadow of smoke glooms the view. If the 
"business portion of Pittsburgh is a city, half enchanted, of fire and smoke, in- 
habited by demons playing with fire, this section of Pittsburgh is also under en- 
chantment of a different kind, and smiles a land of beauty, brightness and quiet. 
The one section might be a picture by Tintoretto, and the other by Claude Lo- 
raine. 

In the long summer twilights, a ride out Penn and Fifth avenues, through 
Hiland and Ellsworth avenues, and other of the beautiful wide streets, where 
TOWS of gas lights stretch on either hand for miles, with the windows of the 
houses brightening in gradual illumination through the gathering darkness, while 

*Sir Henry Holland, who was of the Prince of Wales' suite, when he visited Pittsburgh, remark- 
ed at that time to Josiah King, Esq., one of the committee of reception, that he had, in 1S45, spent 
^ week in an equestrian exploration of the suburbs of Pittsburgh ; that he had traveled through all 
the degrees of the earth's longitude, and had not elsewhere found any scenery so diversified, 
picturesque and beautiful as that around Pittsburgh, and likened it to a vait panorama from which, 
as he rode along, the curtain was dropping behind and rising before him, revealing new beauties 
continually. 



14 Pittsburgh and Allegheny 

the perfume of flowers and the fresh foliage fills the air, renders it a drive with- 
out its paralell, perhaps, in this countr}^ There is no city which has such a 
drive, where all the quiet of the county, all the beauty of cultivated suburbs, and 
the architecture and conveniences of a city combine. 

Passing to the north side of the Allegheny river, the tourist again finds himself 
outside of the din of machinery and the blurr of smoke, and driving around the 
Parks of Allegheny city enjoys a view of a well built city of notable residences 
of much beauty, or riding for miles through paved streets finds row after row of 
neat houses unclouded by smoke, and void of annoyance from the noise of factories- 
Pittsburgh proper, of the old city, and the South Side, is where the fires of the 
factories glow brightest, and the smoke rolls up blackest. This is the part 
most seen by travelers ; and has its beauties as well as the other sections spoken 
of. There is no more impressive sight than at the junction of Fulton and ClifT 
streets of a clear night, when a strong wind has swept away the volumes of 
smoke from the city. Close on the left hand rises grey and grand the beautiful 
High School ; below it the basin of the water works shimmer in the light. In. 
front lies the city of Allegheny with its miles of streets, marked clear and dis- 
tinct by the rows of glittering gas lights. Away up to the right stretches- 
the Allegheny river, on whose either side for three or four miles street lights 
shine ]prightly; along whose line forge fires, furnace blaze and factory flames^ 
are reflected back from the river shining blue and sparking in the moonlights 
Clear and bright on the left centre lies the Ohio, "Xa Belle Rivere,^' with perhaps a 
white steamboat gliding past, with its tall, chimneys sending out showers of 
sparks, a very star spangled banner. To the right, to the left, and in front of the 
spectator, furnaces are throwing up columns of flame. Through the wide open 
doors and windows of factories and mills illuminations of their interiors from 
their forge fires, the glow of flov/ing metal and twisting red hot bars of iron 
throwing off scales of fire under the pressure of machinery, presents a picture the 
spectator will not soon forget. The tourist standing thus, nearly three hundred 
feet above the Allegheny, with the night bringing out every forge .fire and fur- 
nace blaze, with the clank of the machinery rising through the air, and the 
roar of the furnaces echoing from the hills, will feel this ''Hymn of Pittsburgh,'^ 
which one of her poets. Col. Richard Realf, has so admirably rendered in 
words that thrill w^ith the very spirit of Pittsburgh's forges and furnaces : 

My father was mighty Vulcan, 

I am Smith of the land and sea; 
The cunning spirit of Tubal Cain 

Came with my marrow to me. 
I think great thoughts strong-winged with steel, 

I coin vast iron acts ; 
And weld the impalpable dreams of Seers 

Into utile lyric facts. 



In the Centennial Year, 15 

I am monarch of all the forges, 

I have solved the riddle of fire; 
The Amen of Nature to need of Man 

Echoes at my desire. 
I search with the subtle soul of flame 

The heart of the rocky earth, 
And hot from my anvils the prophecies 

Of the miracle-years blaze forth. 

I am swart with the soot of my chimneys, 

I drip with the sweats of toil; 
I quell and scepter the savage wastes, 

And charm the curse from the soil. 
I fling the bridges across the gulfs 

That hold us from the To Be, 
And build the roads for the bannered march 

Of crowned Humanity. 

The beauties of Pittsburgh sketched in the foregoing paragraphs travelers 
rarely see, nor many of her own citizens, from want of knowledge of where and 
when to see. There are a dozci other points around the city where the scenery 
by day or night is beautiful, bu': they may not all be presented even by pen and 
ink. Enough has been given of "pen and ink pictures of Pittsburgh" to show 
what it was an hundred years ago, and to present some idea of what it is in the 
Centennial year, leaving the succeeding chapters to portray its growth, present its 
business, tell the story of its industries, suggest its advantages, and foreshadow 
its future. 



16 Pittsburgh and Allegheny 



CHAPTER II. 



THE MILITARY RECORD OF PITTSBURGH. 



Originating as a military out-post, Pittsburgh has carried the color of military 
prestige through all her career. In earlier days her frontier character naturally 
rendered her the centering point of Colonial military movements, as did her situ- 
a,tion at the head of a stretch of navigable streams. In after days her facilities 
for furnishing munitions of war, and her ability as a metal factory, still gave 
lier mark in the military movements of the time, while in the rebellion, Pitts- 
Iburgh became almost a national armory and military camp. The constant 
marching and re-marching of troops through the city ; the rendezvous it was for 
the volunteers and drafted men of Western Pennsylvania ; the shipment of 
munitions of war gave at all times a military aspect to the streets and the 
.suburbs. A full detailed history of the military events transpiring in and around 
Pittsburgh would require a larger volume than this to contain the facts and 
the papers ; and this chapter is merely designed to present briefly the leading 
^events, more as an index than a history. 

The construction of the stockade by Capt. Trent, alluded to in the previous 
•chapter, may be cited as the initiatory date of the military history of Pittsburgh. 
The expedition of Monsieur De Contrecoeur, in 1754, with sixty batteaux, three 
thousand canoes, eighteen pieces of cannon, and one thousand French and In- 
dian troops, was the first military movement transpiring at this locality, and 
was the first overt act of hostility of the memorable French and Indian war 
of 1754-58. 

The expedition of the French commander De Villier, from Fort Duquesne, 
against Gen'l Washington at Fort Necessity, on July 3d, 1754, may be given as 
the second actual military movement of which Pittsburgh was the pivotal 
point; while the defeat of Braddock on the 9th of July, 1755, stands third in 
the list of military events which are a part of the city's history. 

Thus, amidst the contentions of two great European nations to secure the point 
•of land where Pittsburgh stands, the embryo of a future city was formed, and 
Fort Duquesne passed into history, and became a familiar word in courts and 
camps, to become yet more familiar as Fort Pitt, and still more famous as 
Pittsburgh. 

The expedition of Gen'l Forbes in 1758, against Fort Duquesne, comes next 
in the events that belong to the military history of Pittsburgh ; and the attack 




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In the Centennial Year. 17 

of a portion of Genl Forbes' forces under Major Grant on the 14th of September, 
1758, is another battle scene in the military tableaux that illustrate the city's birth. 
The first actual conflict upon the area, where the city now stands, gave title to a 
locality known as Grant's Hill, which, until about the year 1840, retained, to a 
great extent, its original configuration and elevation, and its summit was the 
site of the reservoir for the water supply of the city. In after years the hill waa 
gradually graded away, and although a rising grade of the streets that intersect 
the locality indicate ascending ground,^no thing remains to mark the hill where, 
in the early gray September morning, 

^^ The Higjilander with kilt and naked knee 

Sent down his challenge to the sleeping fort. 
And waked them with his pipe and reveille." 

This attack of Maj. Grant is characterized by Gen'l Washington in a letter to 
'the Governor of Virginia as '' a very ill-conceived, or very ill-executed plan, 
perhaps both ; but it seems to be generally acknowledged that Maj. Grant ex- 
ceeded his orders."' 

It was eleven o'clock at night when Major Grant appeared with his troops on 
the brow of the hill, about a quarter of a mile from the fort. 

In the morning four hundred men were posted along the hill, facing the fort, 
to cover the retreat of "a company under Captain McDonald, who marched with 
drums beating toward the enemy, Major Grant believing there was but a small 
force in the fort. The garrison, Avho seemed to have kept an apparently sleepy 
watch, was aroused by the music, and sallied out in great numbers, of both 
French and Indians. This force, accounts say, was separated into three divisions, 
two -of which were sent, under cover of the banks of the two rivers, to surround 
the force of Major Grant, while the third delayed a while to give the others time, 
and then displayed themselves before the fort as if exhibiting their whole 
strength. The attack then began, and Captain McDonald, with his one company, 
was immediately obliged to fall back on the main body under Major Grant, who 
at the same moment found himself suddenly flanked on all sides by the detach- 
ments of the enemy moving from the banks of the river. The struggle became 
desperate. The provincial troops, as at Braddocks, at once covered themselves 
behind trees, and made a good defence ; but the Highlanders stood exposed to the 
£re .without cover, and fell in great numbers, and at last gave way and fled. Major 
Lewis, who had been posted in the rear with two hundred men, principally Ameri- 
<5an regulars and Virginia volunteers, with the baggage, hastened forward to the 
:gupport of Grant, but soon found himself flanked on both sides. The work of 
»death went on rapidly, and in a manner quite novel to the Highlanders, who in 
all their European wars had never before seen men's heads skinned; they gave 
way, and the rout of the troops became general.* A number of the men were 

*It is recorded as one of the incideuts of this rout, that as Major Lewis was advancing with his 
men he met a Scotch Highlander under full flight, and on inquiring of him how the battle was 
2 



18 Pittsburgh and Allegheny 

driven into the river and drowned, and Major Lewis was taken prisoner.f Major 
Grant retreated to the baggage, where Captain Bulletj with fifty Virginians, en- 
deavored to rally the flying soldiers. As soon as the enemy came up Captain^ 
Bullet attacked themVith great fury; but being unsupported, and most of his men; 
killed, was obliged to retreat. Major Grant and Captain Bullet were the last to- 
desert the field. They separated, and Major Grant was taken prisoner. J it is» 
not without interest in this connection to state that the point at which Grant was^ 
captured was at what is now the corner of Wood street and Third avenue, where- 
the St. Charles Hotel now stands. 

The abandonment of Fort Duquesne hj the French on the 24th of November^, 
and its occupation by General Forbes on the 25th, are the two next scenes at this- 
eventful spot. A plan of the^fort as it then existed is not without interest in thisi 
connection ; the one given is from the drawing sent to Governor Morris, of Penn- 
sylvania, by Captain Robert Strobo, who, with Captain Yan Braam, had been sent 
to Fort Duquesne on the surrender of Fort Necessity as a hostage. In his letter- 
dated July 28, 1754, which gives a full account of the forces in the fort and other- 
valuable information of a military nature, he says : '^ I send this by Monccatoo- 
tha's brother-in-law, a worthy fellow and may be trusted. On the other side yoit 
have a draught of the Fort, such as time and opportunity would admit of at this- 
time;" and urging that^no time be lost in capturing the fort, uses this language : 



going, the panic stricken soldier replied: they M'ere "a' beaten, and he had seen Donald McDonald" 
lip to his hunkers in mud, and a' the skin off his heed." This would indicate that the Highlanders 
had reached or were passing the point or base of the hill, at the present line of Smithfield street, 
between Fifth avenue and Third avenue, as a series of ponds or stretch of swamp skirted tho base of 
Grant's hill just here, and it was probably in passing through this swampy portion of the ground 
that poor Donald McDonald sunk up to "his hunkers in mud" and lost the "skin off his heed," and- 
it is probable that he was the Captain McDonald who led his one company with drums beating down- 
the face of the hill as if on parade. 

f This ofScer is the celebrated General Andrew Lewis of the Indian war of 1774, commonly called 
Lord Dunmore's war. He was the companion of Washington in the campaign of Braddock, and was^ 
a captain in the detachment that fought at Fort Necessity, and it is stated that Washington's opinion 
of Lewis' military abilities was so great that when the chief command of the revolutionary armies 
was tendered to him, that he recommended it should rather be given to General Lewis. Stuart, in 
his Historical J/onoiVc, says, "General Lewis was upwards of six feet high, of uncommon strength 
and agility, and his form of the most exact symmetry. He had a stern and invincible countenance^ 
and was of a reserved and distant deportment, which rendered his presence more awful than 
engaging. 

JThis is the same Col. Grant who, in 1775, on the floor of the British Parliament, said that he had 
often acted in the same pervico with the Americans ; that he knew them well, and from that knowl- 
edge ventured to predict " that they would never dare face an English army, as being destitute of 
every requisite to good soldiers." 

While Grant and Lewis were detained as prisoners at Fort Duquesne, Grant addressed a letter to- 
General Forbes, attributing their defeat lo^Lewip. This letter being inspected by the French, who* 
knew the falsehood of tho charge, they handed it to Lewis. He waited upon Grant and challenged 
him; upon his refusal to light he spat in his face in the presep'"^ of the French officers, and left hiwk 
to reflect upon his baseness. 



In the Centennial Year. 19 



^' When we engaged to serve the country it was expected we would do it with 
our lives; — let them not be disappointed, consider the good of the expedition 
without the least regard to us." 

The disinterested bravery and self-devotion evinced in this request of Strobo's^ 
who sent the plan and instructions to his countrymen at the risk of his life, is. 
not to be expressed in words, and adds more honor to the annals of Pittsburgh 
than it is possible any mention of the fact could add to the halo of pure patriot- 
ism with which this act and request surrounds his name. 

It was in the summer of 1Y59 that General Stanwix, who succeeded General 
Forbes, on his death, proceeded to Fort Duquesne and began building Fort Pitt.. 
This fortification was, when finished, supposed to be strong enough to secure the 
British Empire on the Ohio to the latest posterity. An extract from a letter 
dated September 24, 1759, printed in the American Magazine published at Wood- 
ridge, N. J., says: "It is nearly a month since the army has been employed in 
erecting a most formidable fortification^ such an one as will to latest posterity se- 
cure the British Empire on the Ohio." Vhomme propose^ et Dieu dispose. 

From the occupation of the ruins of Fort Duquesne, for some three years after, 
frequent Indian conferences were held at Fort Pitt, at which the various Indian 
tribes, headed by noted chiefs, assembled in all their savage grandeur, to meet the 
English commanders. 

First among those conferences, and a little time before the evacuation of the 
fort by the French, is that of Christian Frederick Post, an unassuming Germaij, 
a MoraAaan missionary, who was persuaded to carry a message to the western 
Indians, in order to prevail on them to withdraw from the French. 

" Type and forerunner of that German race. 
Which since o'erspread the forest of the west, 
Which scatters sheaves and flowers on its face. 
And plucks ungentle passions from the breast.""^ 

On the 24th of July, 1758, he arrived in sight of Fort Duquesne, and held a 
talk with the chiefs of the Delawares, Shawnees and Mingos. Those talks con- 
tinued until September 2d, and under date of 26th he records in his journal; 
" The Indians have agreed to draw back." In his journal the simple faith of the 
Moravian breaks out from time to time. On September 7, he writes : '' It is a 
troublesome cross and a heavy yoke to draw this people ; they can punish and 
squeeze a body's heart to the uttermost ; the Lord knows how they have been 
counselling about my life ; but they did not know who was my protector and 
deliverer. I believe the Lord has been too strong against them." And on his 
return he says : " The Lord has preserved me through all the dangers and diffi- 
culties that I have been under ; He directed me according to His will by His 
holy Spirit ; I had no one to converse with but Him." 



« 



*Suc-co-tasb. 



20 Pittsburgh and Allegheny 

On December 4, 1758, the chiefs of the Delawares held conference with Col. 
Boqiiet, and on January 4, 1759, nine chiefs of the Six Nations, Shawnees. and 
Delawares, sought and held a conference with Col, Hugh Mercer. On July 4, 1758, 
a conference, which extended to July 11, with some adjournments, was held by 
George Croghan, Esq., supply agent to the then Sir William Johnson, Bart., with 
the chiefs and warriors of the Six Nations; Delawares, Shawnees andWyandots^ 
who represented eight nations ; Ottawas, Chipawas, Putewatimes, Twightwees, 
Cuscuskees, Kicapoos, Shockeys and Musquakes. On October 25, 1759, Gen'l 
Stanwix held another conference with the same tribes. 

In the famous Pontiac war of 1763, although its principal seat was in the 
region of Detroit, yet Fort Pitt was still a point of mark and of attempted capture. 
The Indians surrounded the fort arid cut off all communication with it. They 
posted themselves under the banks of both rivers, and continued there from day 
to day with great patience, pouring in showers of fire, arrows and musketry, 
hoping by famine, fire, or by harrassing the garrison, to carry the works. Fort 
Pitt remained in a critical situation until after August 5, 1763, when General 
Boquet, who had been sent to the relief of the fort, signally defeated a body of 
400 Indians at Bushy run, a tributary of Bush run, a branch of Turtle creek, in 
Hempfield township, W-estmoreland county, 21 miles from Pittsburgh. The Indians 
had 60 killed, and the English 50, also 60 wounded. 

It was about one o'clock in the afternoon of August 5th that the troops were 
suddenly attacked by the Indians. The engagement ended only with the day. 
At the first dawn of light the Indians showed themselves, and began the attack. 
The English, unable to leave their convoy and wounded, could not move ; many 
of their horses were lost, and the drivers had hid themselves through fear. The 
situation became critical ; the English were literally besieged rather than engaged. 
The fate of Braddock was before their eyes. To turn the condition of the posi- 
tions, Col. Boquet contrived the following stratagem. The troops were posted 
from the preceding night on an eminence, and formed a circle around their convoy. 
Directions were given to two companies, which had been posted in the more ad- 
vanced position, to fall within the circle, while the troops to the right and left 
should open their files and fill up the vacant space as if covering their retreat. 
A company of light infantry, with one of grenadiers, were ordered to lie in am- 
buscade to support the two first companies of grenadiers, who moved on in 
feigned retreat, and were designed to begin the real attack. 

The Indians fell into the snare. Advancing with the greatest bravery, they 
galled the English with a heavy fire; but when certain of success, the two first 
cotnpanies took a sudden turn, and sallying out from a point of the hill, fell 
furiously on their right flank. The Indians, although disappointed, resolutely 
resisted; but on the second charge they fled. As they ran, the two companies 
which had been ordered to support the first rose from ambuscade and gave them 
their full fire; the four companies then united and pressed the Indians until they 
were totally dispersed. 



In the Centennial Year. 21 

Although the Indians, stricken with terror at this defeat, abandoned their 
haunts east of the Muskingum, it was only to prepare themselves for a renewal 
of hostilities the succeeding spring, the result of which was the gathering again 
of troops at Fort Pitt, in the autumn of 1764, for the expedition of Colonel 
Boquet against the Delawares, Shawnees, Mingoes, Mohicans and other nations 
in Ohio, between the Ohio river and the lakes. This expedition departed from 
Fort Pitt on the 3d of October. Their course was along the level ground which 
is now the First and Sixth wards of Allegheny to the narrows, and then 
along the beach to Beaver creek, and thence to Tuscarawas, near the forks of the 
Muskingum. This expedition resulted in compelling the tribes against whom it 
was sent to relinquish all their prisoners, who were first brought to Fort Pitt, 
and thence taken to Carlisle. 

In the spring of 1765, Fort Pitt was again the scene of a grand Indian con- 
ference with Geo. Croghan, Esq., Deputy Agent for Indian affairs. On the 9th 
of May of that year the chiefs of the Shawnees, Delawares, Senecas, Munsies and 
Sandusky Indians, accompanied by five hundred warriors, beside their women 
and children, assembled at the fort. 

On April 26, 1768, the principal chiefs and warriors of the Six Nations 
Delawares, Shawnees, Munsies and Mohicans, to the number of 1,103, beside 
their women and children, once more assembled at Fort Pitt to confer with Col. 
Croghan. 

On October 19, 1770, Washington again visited Fort Pitt, on a tour down the 
Ohio, for the purpose of viewing lands to be appropriated among the officers 
and soldiers who served in the French war; and on the 21st of November, he was 
again at Fort Pitt on his return home, and spent all of the 22d of November there. 

For a period after this there was a cessation of prominent military events in 
and around Fort Pitt ; in fact, Indian hostilities had almost entirely ceased, and 
the peace lasted until 1774, when the Indian war called Lord Dunmore's war 
began. Although Fort Pitt was at this date, more or less, a point of supply 
and rendezvous, yet no marked event occurred there.* 

In 1778, a small force of regular troops under Gen'l Mcintosh, sent by the 
general government for the defence of the western frontier, rendezvoused at Pitts- 
burgh. The general with a small body of men, composed partly of regulars and 
partly of militia, descended the Ohio from Fort Pitt to the mouth of Beaver creek, 
and built Fort Mcintosh, on the present site of the town of Beaver. 

*It was during this year that Lord Dunmore, Governor of Virginia, set up the pretension that the 
Western boundary of Pennsylvania did not include Pittsburgh and the Monongahela river. He 
took possession of Fort Pitt by his agent, Dr. Connell}', on the withdrawal of the royal troops by 
order of Gen'l Gage. The fort seems to have been in a dismantled condition at this time, as in a letter 
written by Pevereux Smith, at Pittsburgh, June 10, 1776, describing the acts of Connelly, is this sen- 
tence : "Connelly has embodied upwards of one hundred men, and will Jiave this fort in good order 
in a short time.'''' At this same time a deputation of the Six Nations had a conference with this Dr. 
Connelly, as Lord Dunmore's representative, in respect to the murders committed by Cresap and 
Greathouse, which led to the war of 1774. 



22 Pittsburgh and Allegheny 

On the 27th of November, 1792. Pittsburgh witnessed the departure of Gen'l 
Wayne's — Mad. Anthony — expedition to the North-west territory. All through 
the previous summer Fort Pitt had been a camp of instruction. Gen'l Wayne 
using energetic measures to put his troops in the best possible discipline for 
eflScient services. After leaving Fort Pitt, Gen'l Wayne encamped for the winter 
at a point seven miles above the mouth of Beaver river. This place was strongly 
fortified, and called Legionville. The result of Wayne's expedition belongs to 
the military history of the North-western territory rather than Pittsburgh, 
which was simply the point of organization of the troops. After this the Indian 
conferences, with all their panoramic parade in and around Fort Pitt, entirely 
ceased. 

In the years 1Y91-4 Pittsburgh was the scene of the celebrated Whisky Insur- 
rection. In 1756 the Province of Pennsylvania laid an excise on whisky to sus- 
tain its credit. This law was to continue ten years. During the revolution 
the law was generally evaded in the west; but when the debts of the revolution 
began to press upon the State, a more vigilant enforcement of the lavr was at- 
tempted. Opposition at once arose, and liberty poles were erected in the western 
counties. The settlers of those localities, descended from the people of North 
Britain and Ireland, had many of them brought their hatred of an excise man 
from the old country. In that day drinking whisky was as common and honora- 
ble as eating bread. The cause of the American Revolution had been an excise 
law, and the people supposed they were only following the example whose re- 
sults they had lately fought out. The State law was repealed; but Congress in 
1791 passed an act laying four pence per gallon on all distilled spirits. The pass- 
age of the act was opposed by representatives from the western counties of Penn- 
sylvania, among whom was Albert Gallatin, representing Fayette county, who with 
others on their return openly and loudly disapproved of the law. The first pub- 
lic meeting in opposition was held at Redstone Old Fort, (now Brownsville,) on 
July 27, 1791. On September 7 delegates from the four counties met at Pitts- 
burgh and passed resolutions against the law. On the 6th of September a party 
waylaid a collector for Allegheny and Washington, and tarred and feathered him. 
In October a person of weak intellect, named Wilson, who affected to be an excise 
man, was tarred and feathered and burned with hot irons. On the 15th of Sep- 
tember the President issued a proclamation enjoining all persons to submit to the 
law and desist from unlawful proceedings. In April, 1793, a party in disguise at- 
tacked at night the house of Benj. Wells, a collector of Fayette county. On the 22d 
of November they again attacked his house and compelled him to surrender his 
commission and books, and to resign his office. In July, 1794, many other out- 
rages were committed, houses and stills burned. Also in June several serious 
riots occurred, in which collectors of excise were maltreated in various ways. 
During these turmoils a term had come into popular use, to designate the 
opponents to the excise laws, who were called Tom Tinkers men. The first 
application of the term is stated to have originated at the destruction of a 



In the Centennial Year, 23 

still, which was cut to pieces. This was humorously called mending the still, 
:and the menders must of course be tinkers, and thus Tom Tinker's men. Al- 
though Congress, in June, 1794, amended the law, it still remained odious, as it 
was a repeal of the act that was demanded. The people had for years, in much 
peril from Indians, cultivated their lands, and when, bv their great exertions, 
more grain Avas raised than they needed for food, they were met with a law 
restraining them from using the surplus as they thought best, and they therefore 
regarded the tax as would be one now on lard, or pork, or flour. The conse- 
<[uence was that the disturbances still increased, and on the 16th of July the 
house of Gen'l Xeville, seven miles south-west of Pittsburgh, was attacked and 
burned, several persons being killed and wounded. Various meetings of the 
insurgents were held at different places, and in July, 1794, a large number of 
men assembled at Braddocks, many in organized companies, under arms, for the 
purpose of attacking Pittsburgh. The insurrectionary feeling had now reached 
its heighth. A word in favor of the law was ruin to any one. On the contrary, 
to talk against the law was the way to office and personal popularity and profit. 

At the assemblage at Braddocks, when it was proposed by David Bradford, 
who was the most prominent leader, that the troops should go on to Pittsburgh, 
Hugh M. Breckenridge, who had joined the movement to control, and, if possi- 
ble, quell it by diplomacy, and in whose writings a full account of the whole 
matter is to be found, said: -'Yes, by all means, at least give proof that the 
strictest order can be maintained, and no damage done. "We will just march 
through the town and take a turn, come out on the plain on the banks of the 
Monongahela, and after taking a little whisky with the inhabitants, the troops 
will embark and cross the river." This was accomplished, and no damage but 
the burning of one barn done. "The people," says Mr. Breckenridge, ''were 
mad. It never came into my head to use force on the occasion; I thought it 
safest to give good words and good drink on the occasion rather than powder 
and balls. It cost me four barrels of good whisky that day, and I would rather 
^pare that than a quart of blood.'" 

On the 14th of Aurust a meetino: of 260 delegates was held at Parkinson 

O o o 

!Perry, now Monongahela city. Albert Gallatin and H. M. Breckenridge both 
took prominent part ia the discussion, and the treasonable plans of Bradford 
were softened down and explained away: the original force of the insurrection 
was condensed down to a committee of 60, which was to be represented by an 
•executive committee of 12, who were to confer with the U. S. Commissioners. 
To gain time, and thus restore quietness, was the object of Mr. Gallatin and his 
-friends. The Commissioners proposed an amnesty, which, at a meeting held at 
Redstone Fort, August 23, was accepted through the arguments of ^Ir. Gallatin 
.and Mr. Breckenridge. This meeting virtually ended the insurrection, although 
there were enough malcontents left to render it necessary, in the opinion of the 
President, to send an army of 15,000 men to Pittsburgh, under General Lee, 
•The army arrived in Pittsburgh in November, but met with no opposition, nor 



24 Pittsburgh and Allegheny 

was any blood shed. The army soon returned to their homes; Gren'l Daniel 
Morgan being left with a few battalions to maintain quiet during the winter, and 
in the spring, order being fully restored, those were withdrawn. 

With the war of 1812, Pittsburgh again entered into the military services of" 
the country. The equipments for the fleet of Perry upon Lake Erie, was, in a 
great measure, furnished from Pittsburgh ; a portion of the cannon being cast 
at Pittsburgh, and the cordage furnished from rope works then in existence at 
this point. A company of volunteers under Oapt. James Butler, called the Pitts- 
burgh Blues, served in the campaign under Genl Harrison, and were included 
in the detachment of six hundred men who were ordered by Gen'l Harrison, on 
the 25th of November, 1812, to march from his headquarters and destroy the 
Indian towns on the Misslssinewa river ; at the battle there fought, John Francis- 
was killed, and Elliott, Dodd, Read, and Chess were wounded. They also partici- 
pated in the siege of Ft. Meigs, where Newman and Richardson were killed, and 
Willock, Ross, Williams, Dobbins, and Wahrendoff wounded. They were also 
part of the small force of two hundred men, with which Major George Groghan 
so brilliantly defended Fort Stephenson, against Gen'l Proctor and five hundred: 
English troops, and eight hundred Indians. Of the services of the Pittsburgh 
Blues at this brilliant defence there is recorded, that, the enemy concentrating 
the fire of all their guns on the northwest angle of the fort. Major Groghan sup- 
posed that when the British attempted to storm the fort, the attack would be- 
at that angle. ''Seeing this, he ordered Sergeant Weaver and six privates 
of the Pittsburgh Blues to place there bags of sand and flour. This was 
done so effectually, that that angle received no material damage from the ene- 
my's gujis." Maj. Groghan had but one cannon in the fort, a six pounder; this^ 
he had placed in such a position as to rake the ditch in case the enemy attempted 
to scale the walls at that point. This only cannon was given in charge of~ 
Sergeant Weaver and his six men to handle. When late in the evening of the 
2d of August, -the British storming column attacked the fort, Sergeant Weaver 
and his six Pittsburgh ers opened the masked port hole at which they stood 
around their six pounder, and the piece was discharged at the assailants, then 
only thirty feet distant. Death and desolation filled the ditch around the works- 
into which the attacking force had leaped in their charge. Fifty were instantly 
killed and wounded, and the scaling column fled in dismay, nor did they re- 
new the attack ; and at three o'clock that night Proctor and his men retreated. 
Another incident illustrative of the material of this company is pardonable here... 
The person narrating it, says : ''I had been in attendance on Gapt. Butler, lying 
sick in one of the block houses of Fort Meigs during its siege, and starting out 
one morning to procure some breakfast, saw Sergeant Trovillo cooking coffee 
over some coals. I told him my errand, and he told me to wait a few minutes: 
and he would divide his coffee with me. I took a seat, and in a moment or twa 
• afterwards heard the peculiar singing of an Indian rifle ball, that entered the 
ground a short distance from where we were sitting. Hurrah! says I; Ser-^ 



In the Centennial Year, 25 

geant, what does that mean? He pointed to a tree at a considerable distance 
from the pickets, where I observed an Indian perched on one of the branches. 
He said, with great, good humor : ' That rascal, George, has been firing at me ever 
since I commenced cooking mj breakfast.' I swallowed my tin-cup of coffee 
pretty expeditiously ; during which, however, I think, he fired once or twice, 
and told Trovillo I was not going to remain a target for the yellow skins." 

The steamboat '^ Enterprise/' the fourth one that navigated the western waters,, 
took from Pittsburgh some of the cannon and other munitions of war used at 
the battle of New Orleans ; and it is said, by her timely arrival aided greatly in 
the success of that contest. 

The Mexican war of 1846 found Pittsburgh again making a record in the 
military movements of that day, and being, as in all previous wars, an import- 
ant point of rendezvous for troops, and supply point for munitions of war. 

In the marches and battles of that war Pittsburgh was well represented. 
Among the troops from Pennsylvania and Pittsburgh were the old Pittsburgh^ 
Blues, of the war of 1812, who had preserved their organization from that time. 
The Duquesne Greys were also among those who fought in Mexico. This com- 
pany, with others, garrisoned the City of Puebla, under the command of Col. 
Samuel W. Black,^ and sustained a siege by the Mexican forces of several weeks 
duration; the story of which is briefly told in the following verses, which were 
published in the '■'' Pittshurgh American^''^ on the day of the return of the Pitts- 
burgh troops, at the close of the war. 

Where the pleasant southern breezes 

Kist Puebla's towers gray. 
Ten to one the wily Mexique, 

With the leaguers patience lay. 
Ten to one, encamped for weeks 

Round Puebla's towers grey. 

One to ten was all we numbered 

On Puebla's towers gray, 
Through the dark and chilling night. 

Through the long and burning day, 
One to ten we kept the ramparts 

Of Puebla's towers grey. 

Shame ! upon the Mexique eagle, 

By Puebla's towers gray. 
One to ten alone opposing. 

Ten to one they fled away. 
Ah ! 'twas Black's brave Pennsylvanians 

Held Puebla's towers gray. 



*This gallant soldier was one of those brave spirits who gave his life for the preservation of th&- 
Union. He fell at the battle of Fair Oaks. Brave, impetuous and talented, the following speecli* 



26 Pittsburgh and Allegheny 

With the outbreak of the rebellion Pittsburgh once more became the scene 
of military movements, a partaker in military action, and an arsenal for the con- 
struction and supply of munitions of war. During the entire period in which the 
contest was continued Pittsburgh was the gate-way through which passed the 
most of the troops in their movements from the West to the East, and the East to 
the West. Early in the war a '^Subsistence Committee'' was established, for the 
purpose of furnishing a meal to all troops passing through the city. This sub- 
sistence committee dined its first regiment on the 28th of July, 1861, and from 
that period until the close of the war, by night as well as by day, no body of 
troops passed through the city without partaking of a dinner, supper, breakfast, or 
midnight lunch, or being invited to. The movement was purely a voluntary one, 
and sustained by voluntary personal contributions. It was organized August, 
1861, and finally dissolved January, 1866. During the period of its organization 
there was fed 409,745 soldiers, in addition to which 79,460 sick and wounded 
soldiers were nursed and provided for in the Soldiers' Home. 

The announcement of the firing upon Fort Sumter created at once a (lecided 
movement in Pittsburgh ; a committee called '' The Committee of Public Safety 
of Allegheny County" was formed, the executive committee of which, for several 
.months, sat in constant session day and night. 

The close proximity of Pittsburgh to the border line of the seceding States, 
necessarily brought it at once into the vortex of the active movements of 
the hour; while her admirable supply of so many of the crude materials from 
whence munitions of war are formed, and her facilities for manufacturing, con- 
verted her workshops into so many divisions of a huge arsenal, in which nearly 
all the equipments of troops and implements of offence and defence were made. 
Por quite the entire period of the war, Pittsburgh was literally a camp and an 
arsenal. Her foundries, her rolling mills, her tanneries, her harness and saddle 
factories, her clothing manufactories, her wagon factories, were all active with 
the production of shot and shell, of cannon, of armor plates, of wagons, of 
artillery harness and infantry and cavalry accoutrements, and other munitions of 
warfare. But few hours of the day or night were without the passage of bodies 
of troops, or was the roll of the drum silent. Her streets were literally a war 
path. 

While yet the clouds of the rebellion were gathering and muttering with sup- 
pressed thunders in the south, and before the firing upon Fort Sumter, one event 
marked in Pittsburgh the temper of the people of the city, and sounded the key- 
note of the grand hymn of loyalty that for five years after kept sounding, clear 
and strong, under defeat as well as in success, through all the loyal States. 



made on the 15tli of May, 1861, at Omaha, while welcoming his successor to the Governorship of 
Nebraska, is marked with his characteristics : **0n to-morrow," said he, "I shall start for Pennsyl- 
vania, to stand there as here, very close to the flag she follows. I think I shall recognize it as the 
same that has always waved over her strong and brave battalions. It is a goodly flag to follow and 
xarries a daily beauty in its folds that makes all others ugly." , 



In the Centennial Year. 27 

A few days previous to the 26th of December, 1860, an order came from Floyd 
the Secretary of War, to ship on that day one hundred and fifty pieces of cannon, 
lying at the Allegheny Arsenal, to New Orleans, under pretext that they were 
wanted for mounting on Ship Island, in the Gulf of Mexico, on which some for- 
tifications had been begun. The intelligence of this order having gotten abroad, 
spread rapidly among the people. The Dispatch of December 25, commenting 
mpon this news, says : 

''Will our people submit to this? Our citizens of all parties as a unit de- 
nounce the movement, and prominent democrats, leading Breckenridge men, have 
telegraphed to Washington to have the order revoked. * -x- -x- * * 
The people of Allegheny county should see that the cannon purchased by the 
national treasure are not conveyed to the far South, and they need not barricade 
Penn and Liberty streets to prevent it. Let them decide that no cannon shall be 
shipped till Charleston Arsenal is in possession of the Federal Government and Fort 
Moultrie reinforced, and none will be." 

The italics and capitals are as originally printed in the article, which con- 
oludes with the following significant paragraph : 

"Arrangements were making on Monday to have some of these guns taken to 
the wharf. We suppose some one will tap the fire bells on the route on their 
making their appearance on Penn and Liberty streets, that our people may wit- 
ness their removal." 

Another article in the same paper concludes with, " Our people are a unit 
that not a gun shall be shipped South," These extracts reflect the intense feel- 
ing that prevailed in the community. The commander of the "Silver Wave," on 
which steamboat the guns were to be shipped, was notified that if he took the 
cannon on board his vessel she would never pass the limits of the harbor, but 
would be sunk. Steps were taken to have some pieces of cannon mounted op- 
posite Brunot's island, on the Allegheny side, to effect that purpose as the boat 
should pass. The commander of the arsenal was called upon by a committee and 
requested to desist from obeying the order, on the ground that it had its origin 
under circumstances which contemplated treasonable results. The officer in 
charge of the arsenal could only suggest that a rescinding of the order be ob- 
tained from Washington. In the mean time an informal meeting had been held 
on the afternoon of the 25th a.t the Mayor's office, to take action in the matter. 
The tone of this meeting is presented in the following extract which we quote 
from the Dispatch of the 26th. 

"While there is a very decided opposition to any interference with the trans- 
portation of the guns to the river, until after we have heard from Washington, 
and all remonstrance fails, it was equally as decided against allowing their re- 
moval from the city should the orders from Washington not be countermanded." 
Another article says : " The proposed removal of cannon from the arsenal was 
the all absorbing topic of conversation (that day) ; and judging from the feeling, 
almost universally expressed, we do not doubt that the officers in command will 
meet with a determined resistance should they attempt to execute the order of 
the Secretary of War." 



28 Pittsburgh and Allegheny 

Edwin M. Stanton had at this time become, as Attorney General, a member 
of Buchanan's cabinet, and to him a committee of citizens applied to obtain a 
countermanding of the order. A dispatch was also sent to the President froni 
influential citizens, stating : ^' They would not be responsible for the conse- 
quences if the order was not countermanded." 

A public meeting was called for Thursday the 30th, to take action in the mat- 
ter, and hear the report of the committees which had been appointed at the previ- 
ous meetings. It was while this meeting was in session that a detachment of 
troops, in charge of a number of guns, moved from the arsenal to transport thems 
to the wharf for shipment on the ^' Silver Wave." Secretary Stanton had replied 
that there was no knowledge of the order at the department; but no reply had yet 
been received from the government to the telegraph of the committee. A tele- 
gram had just been read to the meeting, announcing that Col. Anderson had 
withdrawn from Fort Moultrie to Fort Sumter, when the guns and their escort 
reached Liberty street, near Wood. The excitement became intense, and most 
determined expressions of intention to stop the further progress of- the guns^ 
were made. 

The position was one of great moment. There was no doubt that the order 
of Floyd to ship the guns was given with the intention of having this large 
amount of ordnance pass into the hands of the rebels. To allow the guns to» 
be shipped was to furnish the avowed enemies of the Union with a valuable 
supply of artillery. As yet, it was construed, no overt act had been committed 
by the South. To have, by force of arms, resisted a government officer in the 
carrying out the order of the Secretary of War, was, under the circumstances, to- 
organize armed resistance to the Federal government. Although no proclama- 
tion on the part of the government declared that the South was in rebellion^ 
yet all acts of the Southern States were so plainly evidences of preconcerted re- 
bellion, that the public mind failed to draw the nice distinctions of law, an(i 
looked upon the well avowed intention as the fact. Presuming rebellion al- 
ready existed from the hostile position and acts of the South, it seemed incredi- 
ble that the government should be shipping cannon where they would be used 
against it, unless the government was already part of the threatened rebellioD 
of the South against the North. If it were, it was clear the guns must not leave 
the city. If it were not, it was, beyond doubt, that treasonable motives were 
concealed in the order ; which it was equally the duty of loyal citizens to ap- 
prehend. Yet, to stop the shipping of the guns was to be guilty of actuall 
resistance by loyal people to a government loyal to them, which the people were 
even then preparing to sustain with life and treasure. It was an hour of great 
and painful uncertainty, calling for coolness and moderation. It can well be 
imagined, how anxiously those who saw a duty on either hand, yet appreciated 
the difficulties of the position, counted the hours until such advice could be 
received from Washington as would decide the course to be taken. 



In the Centennial Year, 29 

Through the exertions of influential citizens, the troops were halted on 
Wood street, so that time might be gained in which to obtain the communica- 
tion so much hoped for from the government. 

The line of guns and their escort extended from Virgin alley to Diamond 
alley, Fifth avenue being in the centre, at the upper end of which, less than nine 
liundred feet distant, around the Court House, were gathered excited masses de- 
termined the cannon should not leave the city, but restrained from actual move- 
ment by the red tape of speeches, committees on resolutions, and like delays. 
The situation was not unlike that previous to the throwing overboard of the tea 
in Boston harbor, at the outbreak of the revolution. There the citizens had, on 
the evening of the day on which the event occurred, gathered at Faneuil hall to 
;await the answer of the English Governor to a committee, who had gone to re- 
quest that the vessels holding the tea might have a re-clearance and be allowed 
to sail without landing their cargoes. Pending the return of the committee, the 
meeting was addressed by the speakers present, — when a message from the com- 
mittee was received, saying that the Governor had refused to allow the ships to 
clear, Samuel Adams arose and said, ''all has now been done that can be to 
preserve the peace," upon which the Indian war whoop was raised, and the fa- 
mous body af Mohawks issuing from the hall, proceeded to the ships and began 
throwing over the tea. Here, at Pittsburgh, the message had gone to Washing- 
ton requesting the rescinding of the order shipping the cannon. Awaiting the 
reply the citizens were gathered in public meeting, and their speakers — by ad- 
dresses — were holding the people. Two squares distant the cannon, under guard 
of U. S. soldiers, were halted until that reply could be had. The situation was 
quite twin with that at Faneuil hall. Happily, Edwin M. Stanton was the loy- 
alj decided, prompt man he ever proved in all the country's emergencies, and 
such assurances came from him as enabled the committee to so report as allayed 
the excitement of the people, although the order countermanding the shipment 
of the cannon did not arrive for three or four days. 

Those who had comprehended the danger and embarrassment of the position 
•drew a longer breath as the meeting quietly dispersed. The troops conveyed 
the cannon then in charge to the wharf; no more were hauled, and in a few- 
days Floyd's order was countermanded. What would have been the result had 
not the order been revoked it is not necessary even to conjecture; but the day, 
and the hour, will not easily be forgotten by those who were active in procuring 
such action as prevented a collision between government troops, and a loyal peo- 
ple, determined to prevent, even at the risk apparent, a suicidal action on the 
p-art of the government. 

It was the first decided action anywhere in the country against the rebeMion 
It was the first decided expression of the loyal North. The movement was in 
the hands of men fully as patriotic and determined as Adams and his co-adju- 
tors, and the public feeling, while awaiting the countermanding of the order, 



30 Pittsburgh and Allegheny 



was quite as intense as that which pervaded Faneuil hall. It will also not fail tO' 
be seen how the same desire to do all that ''could be done to preserve the 
peace," pervaded the action taken, and the same determination to do that which 
was a clear point of principle and duty, in event of a refusal to accede tO' 
their requests. The similarity of the situations is strongly apparent. " It is* 
in keeping here to mention that a company of forty Pittsburghers, under the* 
command of Capt. Robt. McDowell, who marched across the country from Harris- 
burg, were the first body of volunteer soldiers to arrive at Washington ; they 
reported to Secretary Stanton, then Secretary of War, for assignment to duty in" 
six days after the attack on Sumter. It is also proper here to mention what has- 
been known to but three or four persons, that the first Union victory was won 
with ammunition furnished from Pittsburgh, by the decision and nerve of two» 
of her prominent citizens. A body of West Virginia troops under Col. Kelley 
had been armed with muskets furnished by Governor Andrews, of Massachusetts,. 
but were unsupplied with powder or ball. With the ammunition furnished thems 
from Pittsburgh the battle of Phillippi was fought and won, being tha first suc- 
cess obtained by Union troops. 

The news of the firing upon Fort Sumter, as before stated, created a decided 
movement in Pittsburgh. An immense mass meeting was held in City Hall, on 
Monday, April 15th, 1861, at which the following resolutions, prepared by John 
W. Riddell, the City Solicitor, were read by Thos. J. Bigham, and unanimously^ 
adopted : 

Whereas, The national government is now seriously menaced by traitors in 
arms, who have defied its just authority, raised the standard of revolt, and by 
hostile acts of war disturbed the public tranquility, and endangered the public 
peace ; and 

Whereas, In an exigency like the present, it is the duty of all loyal and patri- 
otic American citizens, casting aside the trammels of party, to aid the consti- 
tuted authorities in maintaining inviolate the supremacy of the constitution and 
the laws, therefore 

Resolved, By the people of Allegheny county in general mass meeting assem- 
bled, that we deem the present a fit occasion to renew our obligations of undy- 
ing fealty to that government and that union which we have been taught to 
regard and revere as the palladium of our liberties at home and our honor 
abroad; and in their defence and support, by whomsoever assailed, we will en- 
deavor to prove ourselves worthy sons of patriotic sires. 

Resolved, That we especially approve of the course of the Legislature and 
executive branches of our State government, in promptly responding to the call 
of the President of the United States for men and means to sustain and pro- 
tect the Nation-al Government at this crisis in its history, and that Allegheny 
county will contribute her full quota of both to vindicate its authority. 

Resolved, That discarding all political or partizan considerations in this hour 
of our country's danger, we mutually pledge to each other as American citi- 
zens/or the common defence, our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honors. 

Resolved, That a committee of one hundred citizens be appointed by the 
chair as a Committee of Public Safety, to see that the patriot cause receives na 
detriment in this region, and to convene the people whenever in their judg- 
ment such a step is necessary." 



In the Centennial Year. 31 

The Committee of Public Safety authorized in tlie last resolution was ap- 
pointed and announced in a couple of days thereafter; and a sub-committee^ 
consisting of Thomas Bakewell, Esq. and Hon. Thos. M. Howe, were appointed ta 
prepare an address. At the first organized meeting of the Committee of Public 
Safety, on the 2'7th of April, Hon. Thomas M. Howe presented and read from the 
sub-committee the following address, which he stated had been written by his' 
colleague, Thos. Bakewell Esq. 

To THE Citizens of Western Pennsylvania: 
Friends and Fellow Citizens: 

An unexpected emergency has arisen. That Constitution formed by the- 
wisdom of our forefathers, that liberty established by their labors, that indepen- 
dence sealed and sanctioned by their life blood, are menaced, not by the hostility 
of foreign enemies, but by the reckless ambition of domestic traitors and aspiring- 
demagogues, who have long partaken of the blessing of our free government^ 
and enjoyed their full proportion of its emoluments and privileges. Their 
unhallowed passions have plunged our beloved country into the horrors of a 
civil war, and have in some measure exposed our homes, our families, and our 
firesides, to the desecration a.nd ruin of hostile incursions. Under these alarm- 
ing circumstances this committee has been organized, not to supercede the- 
action of ordinary tribunals, not to interfere with the exercise of judicial power^ 
but to aid the constituted authorities of our land in the preservation of the 
public peace, the protection and support of those whose natural defenders may 
be absent on the call of patriotic duty; and if need be (which may God forbid) ^ 
to report for judicial action all persons who, false to every dictate of duty 
and patriotism, may secretly contribute that aid and comfort to the enemy which 
they will not dare publicly to acknowledge. 

Diversified as may be our business avocations, our national predeliction, our 
religious opinions, or our political sentiments, on this momentous subject we 
address you, not as farmers, or manufacturers, or merchants, or lawyers ; not as 
Irishmen, or G-ermans, as Englishmen, or Welshmen; not as Catholics or Protes- 
tants ; not as Democrats or Republicans ; but as citizens, as Americans and Penn- 
sylvanians ; and as such we call upon you to unite as one man in the support of 
those glorious institutions under which our country has attained a growth and 
prosperity unequalled in the past history of the world. Let your young men 
advance to meet the threatening invaders, your old citizens organize for the 
defence of their domestic hearths. Let ample provision be made for the support 
of the families of those patriots who may leave home and its pleasures for the 
stern duties of the tented field. Let a spirit of mutual forbearance and charity 
prevail. Losing sight of all minor differences in the great object of our country's 
salvation, and above all, relying on the justice of our cause, let us unite in the 
determination to transmit to posterity the inestimable blessing of liberty 
received from our ancestors, in calm yet earnest dependence upon the support 
and approval of Him who rules the nations with His rod, and without whose 
notice not a sparrow falls to the ground. 

The hand that penned this admirable appeal has for years been dust. Liv- 
ing to see transmitted 'Ho posterity the inestimable blessing of liberty received 
from our ancestors," he bore his share in the labors and sacrifices of the hour^ 
in the same spirit that prompted the words of the address. 



32 Pittsburgh and Allegheny 

Among the recommendations acted upon at this first meeting was the follow- 
ing, from a committee on organization of Home Guards, made in accordance with 
the suggestion contained in the address just quoted, the committee say: "It is 
proposed that this organization shall be the nucleus of future recruits for the 
public active service of the country." 

Under this organization, by May 2d, in less than three weeks time, sixty-four 
<iompanies were organized, averaging seventy men each. These were armed 
with guns and equipments purchased by a fund contributed by the banks of the 
city, through the efforts of John Harper, Esq.', President of the Bank of Pitts- 
burgh, who was an active member of the committee for the organization of the 
Home Guard. Mr. Harper was the custodian of the fund, and under his disburs- 
ment the arms were purchased and distributed. It is worthy of remark — because 
at times uncalled for jeers have been made at the Home Guard — that this body 
of men proved just what the committee on its organization contemplated in 
their recommendation already quoted, ''the nucleus of future recruits for the 
public active service of the country." There was not one of the sixty-four 
companies that did not contribute largely of its members, already well-drilled' 
in arms, from time to time, to the various companies and regiments that under 
the several calls for troops entered active service ; while not only regimental com- 
manders, but able general officers as well, were furnished from this school of 
soldiers. 

On the 15th of April recruiting began; and on the 17th, the Turner Rifles 
left for Harrisburg; followed on the 18th by four other companies, and by three 
more on the 20th. On the 22d a regiment — the 12th — was organized from ten 
more companies, and a battalion formed of eight other companies ; which sub- 
sequently, with two others, formed the 13th Regiment ; being twenty-six full 
companies which, in less than ten days time, responded to the call for troops. 
On the 24th the 12th and 13th Regiments left Pittsburgh for Camp Slifer, at 
Harrisburg, where the Pennsylvania troops were being rendezvoused, previouf 
to going to the front. 

Through the thronged street, to the rapid beat 

Of the drum's triumphant roll, 
While the bugle's note, on the air afloat, 

Went thrilling the weakest soul, 
We followed our soldiers, so young and brave, 

Our soldiers, so tall and brown, 
As the sun of May, with the closing day. 

Made golden the streets of the town. 

0, that gallant array ! on that spring-time day, 

With the flag of our country over them flying; 

How the trumpets blare made the heart of each there 
Swell proudly and brave, to its echoes replying. 



In the Centennial Year. 33 



While the steady tramp of the solid ranks 

To the time of the music slowly swaying, 
Through all the throng made the weakest strong 

As the sun on the bayonets redly playing. 
As we followed our soldiers, so young and brave 

Our soldiers, so tall and brown. 
While the sun of May, in the closing day, 

Made golden the streets of the town. 

All the pride of war, in our thoughts we saw — 

The sun on the musket barrels glancing; 
Where, across the slopes, through the distant copse, 

The foemen in their pride were advancing. 
We drew our breath, in the face of death. 

With lip compressed and teeth firm set, 
In the silence grim, succeeding the din, 

Of the Kling^ Klang, Kling^ of '^fix bayonet!" 
And joyfully heard the colonel's word, 

Though our hearts were nervously beating 
As never before, like the thunder's roar, 

*' Charge!" swift down the line repeating. 
A thousand as one, e'er the word was done, 

Down the slope we were fiercely leaping; 
Our bayonet's line, in its glittering shine. 

Like to fire steadily sweeping; 
While the rebels' yell, and the shriek of shell, 

To our charging cheer replied — 
We heard and saw, in that vision of war, 

As we followed in love and pride, 
Our soldiers so young, our soldiers so brave, 

Our soldiers so tall and brown, 
When the sun of May, near the close of day, 

Made golden the streets of the town. 

Down the long descent, double quick we went, 

Our line without bend or quiver. 
Though the face of the wood, where the foemen stood, 

Blazed with their fire's rapid deliver. 
Through that storm of pain, that deadly rain 

Of shot and minnie ball screaming. 
Without thought of fear, with cheer after cheer, 

We swept like the wind, our banner streaming; 
As through the smoke its bright stars broke, 

We thought of the little child's saying — 



34 Pittsburgh and Allegheny 



"God made that flag, pa, don't you see the stars," 

And we feared not the batteries playing. 
Nor the foemen's yell, like a cry from hell, 

Up the hill-side fiercely shrilling — 
Thus visions of war in fancy we saw. 

As with hearts to the trumpet thrilling, 
We followed our soldiers, so young and brave, 

Our soldiers, so tall and brown. 
When the sun of May, at the close of day^ 

Made golden the streets of the town. 

We bade them good-bye with a misty eye, 

As we thought of the battle our fancy paraded ; 
We bade them God speed, God's help in their need, 

As the sunset into the twilight faded. 
But thought still followed our soldiers brave, 

Our soldiers so tall and young. 
When the evening prayer stirred the evening air, 

And the evening hymn was sung."^ 

It is not the design of this chapter to mention in detail all or any of the 
regiments, companies, and men who thus, at the call of their country, followed 
where duty led, nor is it the province of this book to enter upon a history of 
the public and private actions of the people of Pittsburgh, in the days when,, 
during the war for the preservation of the Union, Pittsburgh was, as before 
observed, a camp and an arsenal. That book is yet to be written. A proper 
presentation of those things will fill more pages than those allotted to this^ 
volume. The subject is but touched upon here as entering into ''the Military 
Record of Pittsburgh," and to show in a volume primarily designed to exhibit 
her resources and capabilities, how in this war, as in all previous military 
movements of the country from its earliest settlement, Pittsburgh became a 
point of military prominence. Suffice it to say that quite twenty thousand of 
Pittsburgh's young men carried the musket or the sword in all the prominent 
battles of the war. To mention a few, where all merit so much, cannot justly 
be done ; to mention all may not be for reasons already given. The pen would 
fain linger to tell of Cold Harbor, Seven Oaks, Chancelorsville, Fredericksburg,, 
the Wilderness, Lookout, Stone River, Antietam, Gettysburg, and a score of 
other well foughten fields, where Pittsburgh's youth fought, and many of their 
brave hearts gave their life's blood for the Union they marched to save, and died 
in saving. Honor be to their memories. 

*From a War Poem by Geo. H. Thurston. 



In the Centennial Year. 35 



The beautiful grounds of Allegheny Cemetery holds the ashes of many of 
Pittsburgh's soldiers who thus gave life for liberty. 

Eest! soldier for thy country slain, 

Sleep ! patriot true and brave ; 
For Honor decks thy burial place, 

And Fame shall wreathe thy grave. 
There pilgrims oft in years of peace, 

With reverent steps shall tread; 
Thy country's trial still repeat, 

Thy name with Glory wed. 

Green shall the turf that wraps thy breast, 

By patriot love be kept; 
By freemen still thy praise be sung, 

Thy loss by Freedom wept. 
Charmed is the air around thy grave 

By Honor, and by Fame, 
While Glory still, a sunbeam, gilds. 

The stone that holds thy name» 

There Freedom will her striplings bring, 

To learn the duty freemen owe. 
There patriots pause, there poets sing, 

There age awhile renew youth's glow. 
Embalmed for aye on History's page, 

Eest! patriot true, sleep! soldier brave, 
For Honor keeps thy memory green, 

And Fame walks sentry at thy grave."^ 

It was not alone in furnishing troops for the battle-field, nor standing ready 
by day or by night to cheer with a breakfast, a dinner, or supper, served by 
Pittsburgh's fairest faces and whitest hands, the passing soldier, grim with the 
shock of battle, and weary with his march, that Pittsburgh's patriotism kept step 
in the line of duty; her heart was away in the camp, reaching out to the bi^ 
vouac, sorrowing beside the painful h ospital couch, or grieving over the 
wounded on the battle-field. 

On June first, 1864, was opened the great Sanitary Fair, which for weeks 
was crowded by thousands on thousands of young and old, eager to contribute 
to the fund, to raise which the fair was p rojected. That effort was as glorious 
in its results as it was in its conception, and the object to which its profits were 
to be devoted. Like the story of '^ Pittsburgh soldier boys," the details of the 
Fair cannot be entered into in this volume, they must remain for the day when 

♦From a War Poem by Geo. H. Thurston. 



36 Pittsburgh and Allegheny 

some able mind gathers into narrative all that can be told of Pittsburgh during 
the rebellion. It is sufficient here to record, that the amount of money receired 
from the fair was |361,516.l7. A portion of this patriotic fund unexpended 
during the war was devoted to the endowment of the Western Pennsylvania 
Hospital, in the 12th ward of the city. The sum of ?)203,119.57 was handed 
over by the Board of Managers of the Pittsburgh Sanitary Soldiers Home, in cash 
and other articles ; it being a stipulation of the gift that Pennsylvania soldiers 
sick or infirm should always be admitted for treatment free of charge. 

It was also after the battle of Shiloh that the great heart of Pittsburgh went 
throbbing with sympathy over the story of the wounded of that terrible day; 
nor rested until two well appointed steamboats sailed for Shiloh, carrying some 
of Pittsburgh's most manly-hearts and skillful surgeons to that distant battle- 
field, to gather into those boats, under the care of those surgeons and tender 
nurses, the wounded, and bring them to Pittsburgh for restoration to health. 
As the boats proceeded up the river, those of the wounded who desired it were 
left at cities and landings as near their homes as possible. Fifty-four were 
brought to Pittsburgh; of whom eight belonged to Iowa regiments, seventeen to 
Illinois, seventeen to Michigan, three to Ohio, three to Missouri, two — who were 
prisoners of war — to Alabama, and three whose State or regiment was not re- 
corded. Of these eight died in the hospital; being two from Iowa, two from 
Illinois, and four from Michigan. Forty-two were regularly discharged on recov- 
ering, and helped on their way with tickets to their homes. 

Sunday evening, June 14, 1863, began another especially noticeable episode 
in Pittsburgh's military record ; on that evening dispatches were received by 
Major General Brooks, then commanding the department of the Monongahela, 
from Secretary Stanton and Maj. Gen. Halleck, stating that the city was in emi- 
nent danger from the rebel forces, and advising him that no time was to be 
lost in putting the city in a state of defence. . 

A meeting of the more prominent manufacturers, and other citizens, was at 
once called by Gen'l Brooks for consultation. It being Sunday evening, many 
of those whose advice was desired were at church and were called out by 
special messengers. The meeting continued in session until a late hour. At 
midnight it was determined that the work-shops sliould all be closed, and the 
men employed throwing: up earth works around the city, under charge of 
the government engineers, who had been sent from Washington to lay out the 
defences. This was done; and for two weeks time Pittsburgh bore much the 
aspects of a beleagured city. During that time thousands of men were busy 
constructing rifle-pits, and earthworks for the mounting of cannon. From fif- 
teen to sixteen thousand men were at times laboring in the entrenchments, which 
extended from Saw Mill run, now in the 36th ward of Pittsburgh, along the 
range of hills running up the south side of the Monongahela, to about opposite 
the Four Mile run, in the 23d ward of Pittsburgh ; across the city from the Mo- 
nongahela to the Allegheny, and on the Allegheny side along the Ohio river. 



In the Centennial Year. 37 

The day succeeding that Sunday evening meeting the following dispatch was 
received by Hon. Thos. M. Howe, then and for some time previous A. A. Adjutant 

General of the State of Pennsylvania: 

Harrisburg, June 15, 1863. 
Hon. T. M. Howe. 

The following received from Chambersburg, eight P. M.; make it public 
and arouse the people: ''Lieut. Palmer, of Purnell's cavalry, has just came in; 
had to fight his way through two miles this side of Greencastle; reports enemy 
advancing in three columns — one toward Waynesboro and Gettysburg; one di- 
rect to Chambersburg; and one toward Mercerburg and Cove Mountain; not 
known whether they will proceed in separate columns or concentrate here. 
Large fire seen in direction of Greencastle. Palmer reports column at Green- 
castle about five thousand strong, principally cavalry, supported by infantry and 
artillery." A. G. Curtin, 

Governor of Pennsylvania, 

On the lYth the following spirited order was issued by Gen'l Howe: 

Headquarters Penn'a Militia, Western District, 

Pittsburgh, June 17, 1863. 
Reliable advices having been received at these headquarters that a force of 
the enemy at eleven o'clock this morning had advanced twelve miles westward 
from Cumberland, giving unmistakable indications of their purpose to invade 
this neighborhood, I desire again* to call upon all good citizens in Western 
Pennsylvania capable of bearing arms, to enroll themselves immediately into 
military organizations and to report to me for duty. 

If we would stay the march of the invader, we must be prepared to admon- 
ish him that we are fully organized and ready to receive him in a manner be- 
coming freemen who cherish the time honored institutions, in defence of which 
so many of our sons and brothers have already offered their lives a willing sac- 
rifice. Let us emulate their glorious example, and never let it be written of us 
that we proved recreant in the hour of danger. Whenever companies are duly 
enrolled and reported to these headquarters, they will be called and assigned to 
duty by Maj. Gen. Brooks, whenever and as the emergency may seem to de- 
mand, and who will be prepared to furnish arms and equipments. 

Thomas M. Howh, 
A. A. Adjutant General State of Penna. 

The extent and strength of those fortifications constructed in two weeks* 
time, is best shown by the following extract from a report made by Captain 
Craighill, an United States engineer officer in charge of the work, to the Com- 
mittee of Public Safety before mentioned. Says the report, ''It is well known 
that when Gen. Barnard arrived here, the city was not supposed to be threatened 
by anything more serious than a raid of a few thousands of cavalry or mounted 

*In connection with this order it is proper to mention that the entire handling and movements 
of the volunteer and drafted troops of Western Pennsylvania in their preliminary organizations were 
through General Howe's orders and oversight, in the performanca of his duties as a member of Gov. 
Curtin's staff, and as A. A. Adjutant General of the Western District of Pennsylvania. Enjoying 
throughout the entire period of the war the fullest confidence of the General aud State Govern- 
ments, the great labors of his office were performed by him without compensation or wish for rec- 
ompense, satisfied with the conscientiousness of fully rendering that patriotic service prompted by 
his high 8ense of personal duty to his country in its hour of peril. 



38 Pittsburgh and Allegheny 

infantry, accompanied by light artillery. The instructions from Washington 
under which we acted looked to securing the city against attack. This has 
been done. We are, moreover, in a condition to make a vigorous defence 
against an army." During those two weeks all business was for several days 
suspended under the orders of the Committee of Public Safety. The necessity 
of those expenditures of time and money has frequently been questioned by 
those not fully acquainted with all the circumstances. There is little or no 
doubt that the capture of Pittsburgh was contemplated by the rebels. Its 
geographical position, its resources, and the vast arsenal that it was, and could 
be made, all rendered it a strong strategetical point, whose possession or destruc- 
tion was most important. At the time the city was fortified, General Lee was 
marching into Pennsylvania, while the rebel forces were being massed along the 
frontier line of West Virginia and Pennsylvania. An advance guard of rebel 
cavalry occupied Morgantown, and another body of horse were sweeping up 
the valley between the ranges of the Allegheny mountains toward Bedford and 
Johnstown. A force of rebels occupied McConnellsburg, and held the .telegraph 
office there. By these messages were exchanged with the operators of the 
Western Union Telegraph Company at Pittsburgh, in which the rebels stated 
their intention of reaching the city, and were in turn informed of the prepara- 
tions making to receive them. A body of the cavalry advance, at Morgantown, 
had crossed the Cheat river to proceed to Pittsburgh, which, by cross country 
roads, was less than a sharp day's ride, when word was received by the leaders, 
through messengers sent by spies, that the city was being strongly fortified. 
Upon which information they retreated across the river, and finally fell back 
from Morgantown. 

Had the result at Gettysburg been different, there is no doubt that Pitts- 
burgh would have been attacked. This is apparent from the forces which 
gathered at Morgantown and the vicinity, and were concentrating at McCon- 
nellsburg and that section. 

The information received of the work being done to fortify Pittsburgh, 
caused a delay, in which time ihe defeat of Lee changed the plans of the rebel 
leaders. At Washington, among the loyal men in position to know, in West 
Virginia, and among those fully informed at Pittsburgh, there existed no doubt, 
that the city was in eminent peril ; that, the following dispatch from the Secretary 
of War, dated four days before dispatches already mentioned as sent to Gen'l 
Brooks, shows: 

War Department, 11:45, P. M., 

Washington, June 10, 1863. 

To Hon. Thos. M. Howe: ht • /^ n t> i i r^ i, xi_- • r 

Maj. Gen'l Brooks left here this morning for 

Pittsburgh to take command of the Department of the Monongahela. He is an 

able and resolute officer, but will need all the assistance you and your people 

can give. I wish you would go on his staff. The latest intelligence indicates 

that you have no time to lose in organizing and preparing for defense. All the 



In the Centennial Year, 39 

•field artillery on hand at Watertown has been sent by express to Pittsburgh. 
Whatever aid can be given here you shall have. Edwin M. Stanton. 

Had the city been taken by the rebels, the result of the contest for the pre- 
servation of the Union might have been different. The East and the West would 
have been severed. 

Pittsburgh's position is one that admitted of being strongly fortified, and an 
area enclosed that would amply support a large body of troops; while the facil- 
ities the Ohio river gave for fitting out armed flotillas commanded the western 
waters. Only about one hundred miles from the Lakes, with a railroad thereto, 
admirable opportunities for supplies from England through Canada would have 
been open. But sixty miles from the Virginia line as the base of supplies from 
their own territories, with railroad and water transportation a portion of the dis- 
tance, it would have required large forces and severe fighting to have broken the 
barrier that would then have been erected between the West and the East. The 
loyal North would thus have been cut in two, with a result it is easy to conceive, 
though diflacult to depict, in the happy failure of the plans of the rebels. This 
is not the place to present the strategetical importance of Pittsburgh. There can 
be no doubt that the government felt the importance of the preservation of 
Pittsburgh ; and it is more than probable, that the action of fortifying the city 
detained the body of cavalry detailed for its capture, until too late to accomp- 
lish their purpose. Had it been captured, there is but little doubt, the rebels 
would have endeavored to have held the city. Its admirable facilities for the 
manufacture of munitions oi war : the opportunities of receiving supplies from 
Canada j its capabilty of being strongly fortified ; a capability so great, that a 
Commissioner of U. S. Engineers, wuo made an examination on this point in 
June, 1861, pronounced it the strongest position they knew in the country; its 
strategetical power as severing ibe West and the East, and thus rendering diffi- 
cult the movement of troops between the two sections, would all have made it 
important for the Confederates to nave held the city if possible ; and succeeding 
therein, caused, perhaps, a different ending of the civil war. 

The fortifying of Pittsburgh was by many looked upon as a ''Scare," and 
many of her own citizens have been accustomed to so pronounce it. If it was 
a scare, it was participated in by the government from a knowledge of the 
importance of the pLicc as a military supply point, as well as the gate between 
the East and the West, through which the military intercourse of the two sec- 
tions was maintained, and supplies and armies received and distributed. It was 
a scare on the part of those who knew the intentions of the rebels, and of a few 
who were aware that the fall preceding the outbreak of the war, a most thor- 
ough military and engineering reconnoissance was made, with ulterior objects, 
by a person in the interests of the Confederates, and that at the time of the 
-advance of Lee's army into Pennsylvania, this reconnoissance, with a map 
showing all the details of the topography of Pittsburgh, was in the hands of 
'the Confederate government. 



40 Pittsburgh and Allegheny 

Throughout the war Pittsburgh continued to furnish soldiers^ to nurse the 
sick and wounded, supply the camps, and manufacture munitions of naval and 
land warfare. In the chapter allotted to the consideration of Pittsburgh as a 
naval and military arsenal, those manufactures are more fully spoken of, and 
the brief index here made of Pittsburgh's military record is closed, feeling that,, 
perhaps as it is, too much of detail has crept in, yet satisfied that less were 
not suflBcient to fill the requirements of the title of the chapter, 



In the Centennial Year, 41 



CHAPTER III. 



GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION 



From the time the white man first set foot in the western valleys, the geo- 
graphical position of Pittsburgh has rendered it a marked point; and until the 
war of the Revolution severed it from any claim of ownership by European pow- 
ers, its site was a subject of contention between England and France, and was 
regarded by the statesmen of those nations as an important position. 

Pittsburgh is situated in latitude 40° 35^ north, longitude 89° 38^ west, and 
occupies the position of a western capital of Pennsylvania. 

Located at the head waters of the Ohio, at the junction of the Mononga- 
hela and Allegheny rivers, she commands an inland navigation of many thou- 
sands of miles. 

Pittsburgh combines more geographical advantages of position than any in- 
land city or town in the United States. Distant only from 300 to 400 miles from 
three of the most important seaboard cities of the Union, and but a summer day's 
ride from either, for the purposes of exportation or importation she possesses 
many of the advantages of the cities lying immediately upon the sea coast. 

About 150 miles from the great chain of inland seas, to whose shores access 
is had in a few hours ride, she partakes of the advantages of the Lake cities for 
intercourse with the Canadas ; and for outlet through the lake route to the ocean ; 
while by her rivers she commands another and an easy access to the ocean and 
foreign nations. Thus having the choice of three avenues whereby she may ex- 
port beyond the borders of the United States her manufactures, or receive the 
products of other countries. 

Situated in the heart of the bituminous coal formation of the Appalachian 
field, and equally advantageously located as to the deposits of iron ore, her geo- 
graphical relations to the staple materials of Pennsylvania, as well as of the 
Union, are unequaled. Her location to the whole extent of country bounded by 
the Atlantic Ocean on the east, the Gulf of Mexico on the south, the Mississippi 
river on the west, and the Lakes upon the north, is so nearly central, that when 
yiewed with reference to her natural means of intercourse with the States within 
those boundaries, she stands in the position of a geographical centre. Describing 
upon an accurately proportioned map of the United States a circle, with a radius 
of 400 miles from Pittsburgh, it embraces therein the following States entire, and 
in parts : Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode 
Island, Delaware, New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, Ohio, North Carolina, Tenne- 
see, Kentucky, Indiana, Michigan, Canada West, part of Illinois, and the north- 
ern portion of South Carolina. This circle embraces every variety of climate, 
and nearly, if not quite all, the staples of the various sections of the Union; for 



42 Pittsburgh and Allegheny 

the products, and the business of which, Pittsburgh, as the centre of the circle, reaches but 
400 miles on either hand. 

As a geographical centre of such an available business territory, it is not 
without interest to note the increase in the wealth of the portion of this territory 
embraced in the Ohio valley, only, in the past twenty years. In 1850 the valua- 
ation of property, real and personal, of the seven Ohio States was $2,089,002,652. 
In 1870 the census states it at |10, 726, 839, 301, or an increase of over five hundred 
per cent. Under the same ratios the valuation of the same species of properties 
will be in 1890, only fourteen years from now, over thirty-two thousand million \ 
this is allowing the increase from 1870 to 1880 to be the same as from 1860 to 
1870, and from 1880 to 1890, only one-half. To this immense aggregation of 
wealth the geographical position of Pittsburgh is one of control, if only ordinary- 
business activities are used to maintain markets, and hold trade. 

In the same period the property of the sea coast States, real and personal, 
would, under the same ratios, be thirty thousand million. As before stated, to the 
most of those States, as to those of the Ohio valley, Pittsburgh stands as a geo- 
graphical centre. By that same geographical position, Pittsburgh holds a grasp 
upon the products and wants of the Mississippi valley States, as well ; which 
showing by the census of 1870, a valuation of personal and real properties, of 
nearly four thousand million of dollars, notwithstanding the losses consequent on 
the civil war, and an increase, notwithstanding, of quite fifty per cent, over the 
Taluation of 1860, which in 1890, under the same ratios of increase should not 
Tdc less than eight thousand million of dollars. Within the four hundred miles of 
reach on either hand from the centre of her circle, will be accumulated in fourteen 
years from now quite seventy thousand million of dollars of real and personal 
property. And allowing, as before stated, the increase from 1870 to 1880 to be as 
from 1860 to 1870, and from 1880 to 1890, one-half that ratio, what opportunities 
for business ; what room of enterprise ; what probabilities for the accumulation of 
wealth does not the geographical position of Pittsburgh to these riches suggest 
to capital, the enterprising man of business and the skillful mechanic, seeking 
location for the employment of their respective business forces ; for to this extent 
of country the manufacturing advantages that Pittsburgh and its neighborhood 
possess must always prove a magnet, attracting business and population. 

Beyond her qualities as a manufacturing community, Pittsburgh possesses 
another attractive feature — she is the gateway of the West. From her situation at 
the head of the Ohio, such articles as have a preference for water carriage, either 
on account of demanding low freights, or from a desirability to be but little 
handled, will pass through, Pittsburgh to reach such a channel for distribution 
throughout the West. 

This will be of yet greater power in increasing the population of Pittsburgh, 
its business and its wealth, in the future than in the past, presenting another 
consideration to the man of capital, the active, enterprising, far-seeing business 
man, and the skillful, ambitious mechanic, to locate at Pittsburgh. 



In the Centennial Year, 43 

In years past the use of the Ohio as a transportation facility has been limited 
by the occurrence of seasons when low water interrupted the continuous use of 
the river, and deprived it of the force of a daily reliable facility for transporta- 
tion. The improving of the navigation of the Ohio has, in the past three years, 
been strongly pressed upon Congress by a Board of Commissioners for the seven 
Ohio river States. A plan for its radical improvement has been adopted by the 
United States engineers, and an appropriation made by government to begin the 
construction of the first adjustable dam. By a series of these dams it is proposed 
to secure the desideratum of never less than six feet of water at all seasons, 
insuring a continuous daily navigation of the Ohio by boats carrying a thousand 
tons and upwards. 

The increasing demand for cheap transportation, and in fact all transportation 
arising out of the multiplying wants of the growing populations of the various 
sections of the nation, must at an early day cause the Ohio to be made as fully 
available for transportation as it is possible by engineering skill to render it. 
How greatly that will strengthen the already strong geographical position of 
Pittsburgh is easily seen. Distant but twelve hours time by railroad travel from 
the great sea ports of Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York, and by the new 
route now projected, twenty hours to Boston, or a similar time via. Washington 
to Richmond, Pittsburgh holds the key to the commercial intercourse between the West 
and those ports. 

Situated at the head of such a great inland water highway, with its conse- 
quent powers of cheap carriage-, Pittsburgh must become a great produce centre 
and trans-shipment and distribution point, not only of the western products 
needed by the Atlantic States, but also of the importations from Europe or eastern 
products required by the West. Some few statistics will show how probable 
this is. The sixteen sea coast States even now depend on the West for two-thirds 
of their food, and the question of their supply assumes in the future under the 
increasing ratios of population an overwhelming magnitude. Cheap transpor- 
tation is therefore one of the provisions required for the future comfort and 
cheap sustenance of the people of those States. How distinctly the geographical 
position of products and consumers of food in the United States suggests the 
central route of the Ohio valley as the line of a cheap transportation facility, 
and the advantages of water for cheap carriage indicates the Ohio river as 
that facility. The position of Pittsburgh at the head of the Ohio, and her direct 
and short railroad routes to the Atlantic coast, tells in a word what, under the 
full use of that river as a cheap carrying power, the city must be. 

By the census ratios it appears, that in fifteen years the sixteen sea coast 
States will require one hundred and thirty-eight million bushels of wheat alone 
beyond what they produce per annum, or over three million tons. Grain can be 
carried on railroads for one and a half cents per ton per mile. On the Ohio river 
it can be carried for three mills per mile. Under these figures the one hundred 
and thirty-eight million bushels of wheat carried to Pittsburgh from St. Louis 



44 Pittsburgh and Allegheny 

by rail, a distance of eight hundred miles, would cost for transportation thirty-six 
million eight hundred and forty thousand dollars; but, carried by river, a dis- 
tance of one thousand, one hundred miles, would cost only ten million, one hun- 
dred and thirty-one thousand dollars; a saving to the consumer in the Eastern 
States of nearly twenty-seven million of dollars in one year's expenditures for 
wheat alone. Without entering into the figures that all other supplies, whether 
brought from the West to the East or the East to the West, would create, it is 
evident that, as before observed, that under the increasing population of the 
country and its growing wants, the Ohio must at an early day be made as fully 
and comprehensively available for cheap transportation as it is possible for engi- 
neering skill to render it. What possibility, what probabilities of population, of 
business development, of increased values in real estate, does not this contain for 
Pittsburgh? Reaching by five distinct railroad routes the five principal sea coast 
cities, she figuratively lays her hand, of which the five railroads are the fingers, 
upon their produce trade ; while by eighteen thousand miles of river transpor- 
tation her boats can distribute from and gather at her wharves, at cheap rates, 
the interchanges arising from the wants and industries of millions of people. 

The geographical position of Pittsburgli has been of powerful influence in 
causing her growth ; it must still exert a power, which under the improvement 
of the Ohio river as briefly indicated, cannot be overestimated. 

Reaching through natural avenues of travel the following States and coun- 
ties by steamboats, without transhipment of goods, no one can, viewing in con- 
nection with our railway system these great river facilities, dispute to any extent 
the propriety of allowing to Pittsburgh the title of '^ The gateway of the West.'' 

By the Ohio river, from Pittsburgh to Cairo, touching every important point in 
West Virginia, Southern Ohio, Northern Kentucky, Southern Indiana, and 
Illinois. By the Mississippi, the towns and counties bordering upon that river in 
Louisiana, Mi&sissippi, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, Illinois, Iowa, 
Wisconsin, and Minnesota. By the Missouri river, Central Missouri, Kansas, 
Nebraska, Decotah, and Montana. By the Arkansas and White rivers, Central, 
Southern, and Northern Arkansas. By the Red river. Central Louisiana. By 
the Wabash, Central Indiana. By the Tennessee, Western Tennessee, Kentucky 
and Northern Alabama. By the Cumberland, interior of Kentucky, and Northern 
counties of Tennessee. By the Big Black and Yazoo rivers, inland Mississippi. 
By the Minnesota, the interior of Minnesota. By the Illinois river, the interior 
of Illinois. By the Muskingum river, the interior of Ohio. By the Allegheny, 
the Northern portion of Pennsylvania, and the South-western of New York. By 
the Monongahela, South-western Pennsylvania and West Virginia. 

Thus reaching by river navigation eighteen States and two territories — not 
only the border counties thereof, but the interior of those States as well, — afford- 
ing unparalleled facilities for reaching from the 46th degree of northern latitude 
to the 30th; from the 1st degree to the 22d longitude west from Washington, 
embracing an area of 1,052,000 square miles of territory. 



In the Centennial Year, 45 



Of this extent of countrj, the Ohio river passes along the borders of 6 States, 
watering the shores of 71 counties, viz: 2 in Pennsylvania, 12 in Virginia, 13 
in Ohio, 25 in Kentucky, 14 in Indiana, and 5 in Illinois. The Mississippi 
traverses the boundaries of 10 States, and gives navigation to 95 counties, viz: 
6 in Minnesota, 10 in Iowa, 8 in Wisconsin, 17 in Illinois, 14 in Missouri, 2 in 
Kentucky, 5 in Tennessee, 10 in Mississippi, 6 in Arkansas, and 17 in Louisiana. 
The Missouri washes the shores of 3 States, 24 counties in Missouri, 11 in 
Nebraska, and 6 in Kansas. The Tennessee gives water transportation to 3 
States, and outlet to 14 counties, viz: 2 in Alabama, 6 in Tennessee, and 6 in 
Kentucky. The Cumberland affords Avater carriage through 2 States, and to 9 
counties, viz : 6 in Tennessee and 3 in Kentucky. The Illinois and Kaskaskia 
give to 24 counties in Illinois navigation ; and the Wabash similar privilege to 6 
counties in Indiana and 5 in Illinois. The Arkansas affords to 12 counties in 
that State a like advantage, and the Red river the same to 9 counties in Louisiana. 
The White river gives carriage by water to 9 counties in Arkansas and 5 in 
Missouri. The Yazoo, the Sun Flower and Big Black, afford to 11 counties in 
Mississippi travel by river communication. The Hatchee and Obion the same 
facilities to 6 counties in Tennessee. The Kentucky and Green rivers egress to 
the Ohio to 14 counties in Kentucky. The Osage and Maramec rivers, steamboat 
navigation to 8 counties in Missouri. The Platte river to 4 counties in Nebraska. 
The Des Moines and Iowa rivers give to 11 counties of Iowa access to the 
Mississippi by water; and the Wisconsin and Bock rivers the same facilities to 
11 counties in Wisconsin. The Muskingum to 3 counties in Ohio. The Alle- 
gheny gives 2 States, and 8 counties in Pennsylvania and 1 in New York, commu- 
nication by water to market for their productions ; and the Monongahela similar 
Advantages to 2 States and 5 counties in Pennsylvania and 1 in Virginia — being 
383 counties to which Pittsburgh has direct communication — forming portions, 
as before observed, of eighteen States and two territories, by the rivers named. 

In view of this unequaled river system, giving Pittsburgh thus direct access 
to the very hearts of eighteen of the finest States of the Union, can there be any 
doubt of the future of the Iron City as a commercial and shipping, as well as a 
manufacturing point. The contemplated improvement of the Ohio may be for a 
brief time delayed, but the very necessities of the country will force the expendi- 
ture of the money requisite to render this great highway of transportation all it 
can be made, and which its location to producing and consuming populations of 
the country indicate it must be. Not only will the constantly increasing wants 
of the people for cheap transportation require this, but the steadily growing 
bulks requiring transportation will render it necessary, and such improvement* 
of the navigation of all connecting rivers, as will make most available to those 
twenty States this system of inland navigation, without a parallel in any nation 
or in any country, whose value the following table shows : 



STATISTICS OF THE CENSUS OF 1870 

Of the Principal Rivers Navigable from Pittsburgh to their Head Waters without 

Transportation of Freights. 



Elvers. 



Allegheny, i 

Arkansas, . 
Big Black, . 

CumberFd, | 

Des Moines, 
Green, . . 
Hatchee, . 
Illinois, . . 
Iowa, . . . 
Kaskaskia, 
Kentucky, 

Missouri, . 



Maremee, . . 
Monon'hela < 
Muskingum, 



Mississippi, 



Ohio, 



Osage, 
Obion, 
Platte, 
Red,. . 
Rock, . 
Sunflower, 

Tennesee, . 

Wabash, . < 

White, . . . 
Wisconsin, . 
Yazoo, . . . 



States 



Pa. 
N. Y. 

Ark. 

Miss. 
Tenn 

Kj. 
Iowa 

Ky. 

I Tenn 

I 111. 

ilowa 

|lll. 

Ky. 

Neb. 

Mo. 

Kan. 

Mo. 

Pa. 

W.V. 

Ohio 

Ark. 

Iowa 

111. 

Ky. 

La. 

Mo. 

Miss. 

Tenn 

Wis. 

Minn 

Ind. 

111. 

Ohio 

Ky. 

Pa. 

w.y. 

Mo. 

Tenn 

Neb. 

La. 

HI 

Miss. 

Ky. 

Tenn 

Ala. 

111. 

Ind. 

Ark. 

Wis. 

Miss. 



Totals, 



Same territory, 1850 
Increase in 20 years, 





Population. 


o- 




8 


505,999 


1 


43,909 


12 


117,159 


4 


79,028 


6 


142,181 


3 


32,712 


1 


147,819 


1 


94,820 


4 


68,890 


18 


404,650 


4 


73,371 


6 


138,501 


7 


73,730 


11 


72,480 


24 


790,678 


6 


11,925 


3 


35,081 


4 


216,373 


1 


13,547 


3 


105,858 


6 


42,889 


10 


280,214 


17 


438,545 


2 


14,914 


17 


366,637 


14 


182,269 


10 


129,482 


5 


118.234 


8 


126,468 


6 


115,129 


14 


252,124 


5 


46,017 


13 


693,571 


25 


424,845 


2 


298,342 


12 


130,557 


5 


42,243 


2 


29,290 


4 


11,413 


9 


111,664 


5 


147,455 


1 


14,569 


6 


66,568 


6 


78,652 


2 


23,097 


5 


70,828 


6 


120 960 


9 


72,111 


6 


168,295 


6 


58,736 


377 


7,834,908 


4,600,426 




3,234,582 



Cash Value Per- 
sonal and Real 
Estate. 


Cash Value 
Farms. 


Cash Value 
Farm Products 


466,559,891 


134,109,995 


19,189,794 


20,620,578 


22,914,176 


5,224,297 


46,717,249 


11,915,701 


9,737,231 


17,217,641 


8,460,130 


7,675,788 


99,594,035 


2,984,353 


7,320,624 


8,615,440 


4,154,292 


2,389,414 


70,172,314 


42,408,488 


12,088,227 


76,553,755 


15,207,468 


6,563,663 


27,523,662 


9,994,930 


6,213.823 


294,109,666 


171,352,947 


35,847,671 


44,559,300 


28,774,948 


8,029,545 


94,719,512 


42,624,517 


12,526,686 


31,156,717 


21,119,829 


5,656,039 


38,759,779 


18,873,549 


5,450,525 


781,580,770 


161,705,310 


38,122,565 


38,997,189 


13,964,477 


4,588,272 


15,458,520 


7,464,692 


2,022,517 


175,442,325 


119,031,064 


13,776,920 


4,445,727 


4,724,358 


1,161,916 


52,476,159 


34,250,070 


6,738,055 


22,303,582 


5,699,945 


4,834,456 


171,893,476 


88,114,903 


24,695,042 


307,910,775 


167,216,820 


42,141,477 


5,755,571 


3,172,584 


1,410,622 


249,194,823 


31,266,079 


20,963,613 


121,178,520 


46,883,095 


13,207,193 


44,092,210 


22,620,138 


16,686,602 


61,242,891 


17,594,456 


18,752,485 


71,922,260 


28,299,010 


10,058,448 


73,436,276 


27,630,190 


10,272,324 


151,372,179 


57,449,434 


13,282,795 


17,410,560 


5,573,869 


2,265,663 


565,135,553 


143,896,281 


27,478,685 


262,330,888 


80,762,422 


21,027,194 


389,246,865 


60,646,521 


• 6,502,355 


67,395,785 


27,964,932 


5,888,622 


17,100,000 


7,127,978 


2,196,192 


10,055.882 


4,388,101 


3,092,877 


9,473,733 


2,557,727 


4,489,543 


22,394,847 


11,256,425 


11,440,665 


9,747,797 


60,915,264 


14,276,561 


6,191,200 


6,002,270 


3,818,040 


20,165,447 


8,187,035 


1,588,080 


18,564,598 


7,800,849 


4,469,930 


6,745,207 


1,884,223 


1,488,678 


36,390,528 


17,972,443 


5,309,294 


87,950,086 


56,711,788 


8,528,248 


25,719,823 


- 6,084,961 


6,659,337 


111,748,770 


52,461,314 


15,362,820 


37,893,421 


16,523,247 


14,342,529 


5,408,292,792 


1,953,519,698 


522,833,759 




601,312,416 


218,992,007 




1,352,207,272 


303,841,752 



Cash Value 
Farm Stock. 

14,328,980 
4,192,525 
4,051,731 
2,954,47e 
5,234,56r 
1,493,17& 
9,638,004 
4,126,972 
2,650,037 

25,509,535 
6,090,578 
6,333,922 
4,312,076 
3,781,176 

26,794,071 
2,837,86r 
1,023,96a 

10,937,032 

71,260' 

4,420,775 

1,687,667 

16,830,325 

24,078,02a 
663,784 
5,099,870" 
9,482,765 
4,948,541 
3,600,871 
6,213,177 
5,202,64r 
7,928,265 
1,113,369- 

16,085,167 

13,934,08^' 
4,591,501 
3,924,395 
1,799,292 
1,733,770 
690,594- 
3,521,096: 

10,654,091 
798,862 
2,708,193". 
3,149,334 
810,013- 
3,210,430 
5,555,958: 
2,541,125 
8,451,978 
4,006,599 

316,498,908 

87,413,443 



In the Centennial Year, 47 



CHAPTER IV. 



THE RAILWAY SYSTEM OF PITTSBURGH. 



By reference to a map it will be seen that the Pittsburgh Railway sys- 
tem is, taking into view the scope of its connections, one of great value. 

Seated midway between, as has been before observed, an empire of popula- 
tion on the East and an empire of people on the West, Pittsburgh's facility for 
railroad communication with the trade of either section by railway is direct^ 
comprehensive and well sustained. 

Eastwardly by the Pennsylvania Rail Road, to Philadelphia, it attaches to 
New York, and the North-east by the New Jersey Rail Roads, and to Baltimore 
and the south, by the Northern Central Rail Road, which connects with the 
Pennsylvania Rail Road at Harrisburg. 

The value of this communication with the great cities of New York, Phila- 
delphia and Baltimore, by such direct routes and in such brief time, needs na 
comment. At a time when the manufacturers of the United States are essaying^ 
and with success, to secure a share in the trade of foreign markets, for articles 
which England has sold heretofore, a direct connection with three such great sea 
ports within twelve hours time, acquires additional value in view of Pittsburgh's 
manufacturing ability. Nor must the fact be overlooked that Pittsburgh is the 
natural point of refining of that great staple oil which has attained already the 
third rank in our foreign exports, and of which the chief supply is from the two 
or three counties of Western Pennsylvania which lie just at Pittsburgh's door. 

North-eastwardly by the Allegheny Valley Rail Road, the great trunk 
lines of the lake routes are reached, and a second direct connection with New 
York obtained. 

South-eastwardly by the PiTTSBURan and Connellsville Rail Road, at pres- 
ent known as the Pittsburgh Division of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, a second 
direct connection, by the Baltimore and Ohio Rail Road, from Cumberland, 
to which point the Pittsburgh and Connellsville Rail Road reaches, is secur- 
ed with Baltimore. 

The value of a direct communication between Pittsburgh and so important a 
sea board city as Baltimore, need not be pointed out. It is of itself suggestive. 
Neither is it necessary to dwell upon the importance of the connection thus 
made with the southern Atlantic States. The road brings Baltimore 31 miles 
nearer the Ohio river, (a great desideratum to heavy freights,) than she now is 
placed by her Baltimore and Ohio Rail Road route to Wheeling; and from the 



48 Pittsburgh and Allegheny 

character of the route of this road, having but one summit, the gradients are 
all level or descending eastwardlj and westwardly ; therefore it will attract travel 
and freights by its ability, from these causes, to carry cheap. 

Thus, by her Eastern railways two direct connections are available with New 
York, and two with Baltimore; while the admirable advantages of the Pennsyl- 
vania Railroad give every facility to reach Philadelphia. There is no city whose 
railway system so comprehensively grasps, in a days travel, the three great sea 
ports of the nation ; or to reverse the statement, no location where the three so 
great and important cities concentrate by their lines of railroads, traversed in 
iuch few hours, upon one community, so advantageously situated to distribute 
by water or by rail to the West. The advantages of this eastward portion of 
Pittsburgh's railway system, the city has not yet begun to feel; its power for 
increasing her commerce and her wealth is yet awaiting its hour in the future, 
and is a reserve whose value is not yet comprehended. 

Westwardly, by the Pittsburgh, Ft. Wayne and Chicago Railroad, to Chi- 
cago, it embraces in its connections the entire net-work of roads which corei 
the States of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, and reaches by various roads, through 
the States of Missouri and Iowa. 

By the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and St. Louis Railroad not only is a second 
avenue to Chicago and the North-west secured, but a direct route to St. Louis, 
140 miles shorter than that by way of Buffalo and Cleveland. By this road a 
second and different connection is formed with the net of roads which so thor- 
oughly intersect the States of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, and the States beyond 
the Mississippi. It needs but a glance at a rail road map to see how great are 
the facilities possessed by Pittsburgh through these two western rail roads to 
distribute to nearly every county in those three great States, and to the Missis- 
sippi river towns, her manufactured products, or to receive from all those 
agricultural districts, their products. 

Northwardly, by the Cleveland and Pittsburgh Rail Road, the Pittsburgh 
railway system reaches the Lakes at Cleveland, and by the steam boat routes on 
them, with which this road forms close connections, the rail roads of Chicago 
and Detroit, and thence westwardly. As a northern route this one is extremely- 
valuable to Pittsburgh ; affording an outlet to a vast expanse of country for her 
coal and her manufactured products. Nor will the facilities thus had be over- 
looked, to receive from the regions of Lake Superior and Canada their copper 
and iron ores, which Pittsburgh uses so largely. 

By the Pittsburgh and Erie Railroad another direct Northern route is had, 
as well as a second connection with the great East and West Lake lines of rail 
road, giving yet another facility for reaching the East, as well as the West and 
North. 

Of the Western Trunk lines, the Pittsburgh, Ft. Wayne & Chicago is the 
oldest completed route of the system. In its course it runs through and into the 
territory of four States, and gives by its own direct line transportation to twenty- 




^■■^fUi2;jEU/-7tai^c 'f^'h^tr'/o, 



LIBRARY HALL, PITTSBURQH. 




.^A^:me>/:J?/u^^t.a!^^ «#<^ Jt^A^ 



SIXTH STREET SUSPENSION BRmGE. 







I 

m 
m 

8 



In the Centennial Year, 



49 



one counties through whose area its rails run. On its direct connections, which 
are so immediate as to be only a fork in the line, it intersects nine other counties, 
being thirty counties whose trade, travel and products it grasps direct. Omit- 
ting any mention of all the others the road has access to by other connections, 
the value of those counties are shown by the following table : 



State. 


J 

a 

1 
11 

8 

1 

21 


Cash Value 

Personal aad 

Real Estate, 

1870. 


Populati'n 
1870. 


Cash Value 

Farms, 

1870. 


Cash Value 
Farm Products 


Cash Value 
Live Stock. 


Pennsylvania, 
Ohio, .... 
Indiana, . . . 
Illinois, . . . 


34,065,895 
244,931,060 
121,161,500 
575,000,000 


36,148 
293,853 
126,754 
349,966 


14,198,713 

123,114,044 

58,905,714 

22,873,349 


2,069,312 

23,212,080 

9,492,236 

4,033,256 


1,576,277 

15,676,342 

7,017,227 

2,612,441 


Total, . . . 


995,157,455 


906,721 


219,091,810 


38,806,884 


26,882,307 



By connection at Gallion, with the Cleveland, Columbus & Indiana Railway 



State. 


i 


Cash Value 
Personal and 
Real Estate, 

1870. 


Populati'n 

1870. 


Cash Value 
Farms, 

1870. 


Cash Value 

Farm Products 

1870. 


Cash Value 

Live Stock, 

1870. 


Ohio, .... 
Indiana, . . . 


4 

1 


86,751,281 
15,000,000 


92,238 
19,030 


42,596,611 
10,025,183 


8,634,074 
1,746,273 


5,763,343 
1,187,038 


Total, . . . 


5 


101,751,281 


111,268 


52,621,794 


10,380,247 


6,950,381 



By connection at Indianapolis with Indiana & Vincennes Rail Road. 



State. 


1 

6 


Cash Value 

Personal and 

Real Estate, 

1870. 


Populati'n 
1870. 


Cash Value 
Farms, 

1870. 


Cash Value 
Farm Products 

1870. 


Cash Value 

Live Stock, 

1870. 


Indiana, . . . 


4 


40,723,375 


74,801 


24,729,016 


5,612,688 


4,074,552 



The second Western trunk is the Pittsburgh, St. Louis & Cincinnati Rail 
EoAD. The value of this direct Western route is seen by a glance on a com- 
plete rail road map. In its direct course it passes through and into six great 
States, and thirty-one counties of those States. The value of the population, 
wealth and products of those counties, and the importance of the route as in- 



50 



Pittsburgh and Allegheny 



stanced by the value of personal and real estate, value of farms and farm pro- 
ducts, as stated by the census of 1870, is shown in the following table: 



States. 


i 

6 

1 
1 

13 
9 
6 

1 

31 


Cash Value 

Personal and 

Real Estate. 

1870. 


Population. 
1870. 


Cash Value 

Farms. 

1870. 


Cash Value 

Farm 

Products, 

1870. 

4,526,239 

347,055 

35,852,054 

16,612,261 

10,515,962 

3,566,487 


Cash Valuer 

Live Stock,. 

1870. 


Pennsylvania, . 
West Virginia, . 
Ohio, .... 
Indiana, . 
Illinois, . . . 
Missouri, . . . 


69,288,390 

4,060,127 

425,885,906 

233,819,990 

88,307,356 
511,035,000 


48,483 
4,363 
472,805 
266,156 
123,316 
351,189 


39,015,600 

2,317,814 

200,454,673 

105,025,363 

42,573,200 

28,409,635 


3,938,335 

218,84a 

22,121,605 

12,400,111 

6,084,888 

1,333,793 


Total, . . . 


1,332,396,763 


1,276,312 


417,796,285 


71,420,047 


46,097,572- 



This trunk route, by its direct connection with the Columbus, Chicago & Indi- 
ana Central, reaches eleven other counties in Indiana, other than those in the 
table above, which had, in 1870, a population of 134,025 ; personal and real estate- 
to the value of $99,221,323 ; farms of a cash value of $55,476,850 ; producing farm 
products to the value of |11,657,183, and live stock worth |8, 782, 514. By its- 
connection with the Toledo, Peoria & Wabash E,AiLROAD,|nine more counties, 
other than those previously given, are reached direct, having, in 1870, a popula- 
tion of 262,118, with personal and real estate of the cash value of $176,582,022, 
"with farms of a cash value of $108,350,561, yielding farm products worth, at 
eash valuation, $23,825,592, and with live stock worth $19,850,000, cash. 

The value of these two trunk western lines, with their four distinct and direct 
connections, — as shown by these statistics of the very elements that go to sup- 
port railways, consume manufactures and create commerce, is very great; not 
to mention in the slightest the many indirect connections, whose similar- 
resources also tend to these trunk lines, and to Pittsburgh. It would appear 
that the population is, in the aggregate, 2,765,845, the value of real estate and 
personal of $2,745,323,809, or more than the entire national debt, while the value 
of the farms was $878,066,316, the cash value of the farm products $161,702,641, 
or more than the annual interest upon the national debt, while the value of the 
live stock was $103,854,712. These statistics are those of the census of 1870, 
six years ago. With two trunk lines running their daily trains through such 
immense wealth, it needs not much comment to show the value of Pittsburgh's 
railway system as a sustainer of her business and a promoter of her growth. 
When to these is added that of the balance of her contemplated trunk lines, it 
is evident that Pittsburgh's continued prosperty, with a railway system giving 
access to such wealth, in addition to the other enormous sums shown by the cen- 
sus of 1870 to lie along the course of her accessable river, can be a subject for 
no doubt, hawever it may be temporarily effected by those periodical depressions 
of business to which the country has been subject. 



In the Centennial Year. 



51 



But to return to the exhibit of the statistics of the trunk routes of the Pitts-- 
burgh railway system. The Cleveland and Pittsburgh Railway runs through^ 
four counties of Ohio having, a population of 220,987, a cash value of real and 
personal estate of $195,703,000, with farms $75,939,385 cash value, yielding, 
$10,521,143 of products, and having |7, 041, 313 of live stock. 

The Pittsburgh and Erie Rail Road, running through three counties of 
Pennsylvania, is sustained by a population outside of Pittsburgh of 143,239, 
whose real and personal estates was valued in 1870 at $105,163,728 cash, having 
farms whose cash value is given at $57,653,950, which produce farm products, at 
a cash value, of $9,854,845, and held live stock to the value of $7,088,019. 

The statistics of the Pittsburgh and Connellsville Rail Road, running 
through but three counties of Pennsylvania, and connecting at Cumberland with 
the Baltimore and Ohio Rail Road, shows that, by the census of 1870, those 
three counties had a population of 130,239, real and personal estate to the value 
of $125,802,365, farms worth in cash $58,505,499, yielding $9,129,959 of farm 
products, and having live stock to the value of $6,789,758. While this shows the 
money value of the three counties through which it runs, the figures are not 
a fair representation of the value of this trunk line, which it is to the east and 
south-east, in connection with the Baltimore and Ohio Rail Road. 

The Allegheny Valley Rail Road is the sixth trunk line of the Pittsburgh 
system, which piercing a diverse section from the other lines, pours her trade 
into Pittsburgh, and is not only aiding to sustain the prosperity of the past, but 
working to increase it in the future. 

The route of this road is chiefly in Pennsylvania, although it penetrates into 
New York, and there forms connections with the New York system of roads. 

The following table shows the statistics and population, and product values 
of this line : 



State. 


a 


Cash Value 

Personal and 

Keal Estate, 

1870. 


Cash Value 
Farms, 

1870. 


Populat'n 

1870. 


Cash Value 
Farm Products 

1870. 


Cash Value 

Live Stock, 

1870. 


Pennsylvania, . 
New York, . . 


8 
1 


188,415,130 
48,607,170 


97,023,894 
33,061,755 


276,905 
59,227 


17,308,583 
6,103,495 


13,580,359 
4,880,586 


Total, . . . 


9 


237,022,300 


130,085,549 


336,122 


23,412,078 


18,460,945 



By direct connection with the Oil Creek Rail Road, it also reaches two other 
counties in Pennsylvania, whose population is 27,907, have real and personal 
property to amount of $14,175,395, and farms of a cash valuation of $7,596,072, 
yielding $1,847,742 of farm products, and having $1,190,617 of live stock. 
These figures but poorly show the money importance of this line. Running 
through the great oil region, the staple of that section is not givcH in the farm 
products, although the oil is taken from those very farms. Upon this point it is 



52 Pittsburgh and Allegheny 

sufficient to state that the exports of this article now rank third on the list of 
exports from the United States, and that in addition to this is to be computed the 
entire consumption of the United States. For the carriage of this mineral, 
the Allegheny Valley Rail Road gives most admirable facilities for its transpor- 
tation to Pittsburgh for refining and shipment thence to the east for exportation. 
Of the present value of this trade to Pittsburgh the chapter on her oil trade pre- 
sents the facts. 

The seventh trunk line is the Pennsylvania Rail Road. By this road and its 
branches, full access is had to the interior of the State. Running for a distance 
of 350 miles through the heart of the State, it affords a great facility for the re- 
ception of the metal from the numerous furnaces of Pennsylvania, the lumber of 
the mountain regions, and for eastward shipments to New York, Philadelphia and 
Baltimore, either of home manufactures, or those products of other States, seek- 
ing eastern and European destinations, which are transported by the rivers to 
Pittsburgh. 

These are the leading trunk roads of the Pittsburgh railway system, and are 
sufficient to indicate its power in Pittsburgh's future, to increase her growth and 
aid her business. 

There are several minor roads whose future is yet undeveloped, which belong 
to the same system of roads. Among these is the Pittsburgh, Virginia and 
Charleston Rail Road. This road, running southwardly up the course of the 
Monongahela river, is designed to connect the points its name indicates, and form 
a connection with the southern net work of rail roads, as the Pittsburgh, Ft. 
Wayne & Chicago and Pittsburgh, Cincinnati & St. Louis does with the West. 
In so doing it will open to Pittsburgh a great facility for reaching the rich iron 
ores of Virginia, and also communicate with a very valuable lumber district, 
especially for ship timber. When completed, it will be — in the facilities it will 
afford to Pittsburgh of reaching southern markets with her manufactures, and 
receiving from them their staples — one of the most important of her trunk roads. 

Of the various projected roads, it is not requisite here to speak; as of their 
routes or their trade statistics no data could be given. That several of these 
will hereafter add to the railway facilities of Pittsburgh is one of the cer- 
tainties of the city's future. 

This brief exposition that is here given of Pittsburgh's railway system shows 
its power. Its lines reaches to the East, North-East, South-East, South, West, 
North-West, and North ; it reaches the great sea ports of the Atlantic coast with 
a singular directness and force ; it lays hold on the great lakes as strongly ; it 
reaches into and covers the West with a wonderful grasp, and, as shown, is pre- 
paring to lay a similar broad hand on the South. This presentation of Pitts- 
burgh as a railway centre suggests at once a greatness for the city increasing with 
the wants and products of the greater portion of the union. 



In the Centennial Year. 53 



CHAPTER V, 



HALF A CENTURY OF MANUFACTURING. 



Progress of Manufactures from 1804 to 185 7. 

The expression, "Pittsburgh Manufactures," is one of the utmost familiaritj, 
all over the West and South-West, and hardly less so in the East. In the large 
cities and in the growing towns, the announcement of "Pittsburgh Manufac- 
tures" appears in the daily advertisements of the merchants; and at the stores 
of the cross roads of the fresh grown village, it is a conspicuous item upon the 
signs of their proprietors. Before entering into an exposition of their present 
value, it will be interesting to trace their early growth. 

In 1804, Cramer's Almanack says, "Do not be surprised when you are in- 
formed that the averaged value of the articles manufactured in Pittsburgh for 
1803, amounts to upwards of $350,000." From the same book the following 
table is extracted verbatim : 



A View of the Manufacturing Trade of Pittsburgh, with the Average 

Amount op Each Article, as Made from Raw Material and 

Fit for the Market, for the Year 1803. 

Glass, window bottles. Jars, decanters, tumblers, blue glass, . . . $12,500 00 

Glass-cutting — N. B. equal to any cut in the states of Europe, . . 500 00 

Tin ware— 320 boxes, 40 dollars each, 12,800 00 

Barr iron, mill, ship-work, axes, hoes, plough irons, &c. — 50 Tons, 

at 17 cts per lb, . 19,800 00 

Brass hand irons, still cocks, &c., 2,800 00 

Cutlery, augers, chisels, hackles, planing bits, drawer knives, «fec., . 1,000 00 

Cut and hammered, nails, 40 tons, 18 cts. per lb, ■ . 16,128 00 

Bells, cow, . 200 00 

Guns, rifles, &c., 1,800 00 



54 Pittsburgh and Allegheny 

Clocks, silversmith work, 3,000 00 

Screens for small grain — 3, 40 dollars each, 120 00 

Scythes and sickles, 1 500 00 

Cut stones, grind, tomb stones, &c., 2,000 00 

Cabinet work, much exported, 14,000 00 

Carpenters Planes, 850 00 

Wagons, carts, &c., ..'... 1,500 00 

Barrels, tubs, and buckets, 1,150 00 

Kentucky and keel bottom boats, ships of burden, and barges, . . 40,000 00 

Windsor chains — 180 doz., 15 dollars per doz., 2,700 00 

Spinning wheels — 400, 3 dollars each, 1,200 00 

Pumps, 500 00 

Carpenter work, 13,500 00 

Candles— 12,000 lbs., 20 cts. per Hb., 2,400 00 

Soft soap — 800 bbls., 4 dollars per bbl., 3,200 00 

Beer and porter — 900 bbls., 5 dollars per bbl., 4,500 00 

Bread and biscuit flour — 1400 bbls., 6 dollars per bbl., 8,400 00 

Shoes — 5180 pairs, 75 cts. per pair, 9,065 00 

Boots — 550 pairs, 6 dollars per pair, 3,300 00 

Saddles — 450, 15 dollars each, 6,750 00 

Bridles — 1,500, 50 cts. each, 2,250 00 

Harness work, 500 00 

Buck-skin breeches, and dressed skins, 2,300 00 

Cloaths, price of labor only, 5,950 00 

Segars, snuff, and pigtail tobacco, 3,000 00 

Ropes, cables, beds cords, &c., 2,200 00 

Matrasses — 19, 20 dollars each, 380 00 

Dyed cotton, and flaxen yarn (labor) . 450 00 

Carded and spun cotton by the carding engine and spinning jenny, . 1,000 00 

Woved striped cotton — 5,500 yards, 1 dollar per yard, 5,500 00 

Linen, 700, — 3000 yards, 40 cts. yer yard, 1,200 00 

Tow linen-;-1500 yards, 25 cts. per yard, 375 00 

Lindsey woolsey — 3,500 yards, 60 cts per yard, 2,100 00 

Carpeting, rag — 1,200 yards, 75 cts per yard, 900 00 

Stockings, wove, 500 00 

Coverlid and diaper weaving, 500 00 

Weavers' reeds, 200 00 

Hats, wool and fur— 2,800, 5 dollars each, 14,000 00 

Chip hats— 90 doz., $7.50 per doz., 67500 

Leather, tanned, 10,000 00 

Brushes all kinds, Russia bristles, 2,500 00 

Bricks — 1,250,000, 4 dollars per thousand, 5,000 00 

Crockery ware, 3,500 00 



In the Centennial Year. 55 

-Mason work, 10,500 00 

Plastering and painting, 3,500 00 

Paper made up into books, 1,000 00 

Total, $266,403 00 



The Following Articles of Country Manufactures may be Considered thb 
Principal in which the Bartering Trade is Carried On in this Plach. 

Whiskey— 2,300 bbls., 12 dollars per bbl., $27,600 

Linen, YOG — 28,000 yards, 40 cts per yard, 11,200 

Lindsey woolsey — 4,000 yards, 50 cts per yard, 2,000 

Tow linen— 9,000 yards, 25 cts per yard, 2,250 

Twilled bags— 3,000, at $1 each, 3,000 

Striped cotton, — 3000 yards, 80 cts. per yard, 2,400 

•Raw cotton from Tenn. — 30,000 pounds, 25 cts per pound, 7,500 

Maple sugar — 15,000 pounds, 12 cts. per pound, . . . . 1,800 

Lake salt, Onidago— 1000 bbls., 12 dollars per bbl., 12,000 

Castings — 50 tons, 100 dollars per ton, 5,000 

Barr iron — 80 tons, 160 dollars per ton, 12,800 

Plax, hemp, oats, cheese, &c. — say, 5,000 

Total, $92,505 

The following is from Cramer's Almanack, of 1806: ''We feel peculiar 
pleasure in noticing the improvements of our town; two very important manu- 
factories have been lately erected and are now in operation. The one a cotton 
manufactory, which can spin 120 threads at a time, with the assistance of a man 
and boy. The big cylinder of the carding machine has on it 92 pair of cards 
-attended by a boy ; the reeling is done by a girl. The other is an air foundry, 
for the purpose of casting iron pots, kettles, mill irons, &c. ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ * 
We also learn that a machine for carding wool is about to be erected." The 
same page contains the following: "Mr. Lintot has been engaged some time in 
t)uilding a boat to go up stream with the assistance of horses. If the plan 
succeeds it will be atteuled with many important advantages to those concerned 
in the trade of the rivers." 

1807. It is mentioned that "this town is growing rapidly into importance." 
The following manufactories are recorded: "O'Hara's glass factory, producing 
.yearly $18,000; Kirwin & Scott's cotton factory; M'Clurg's air furnace; Poter's 
Stringer's and Stewart's nail factories, producing 40 tons annually. Two exten- 
sive breweries (O'Hara's and Lewis',) whose beer and porter is equal to that so 
.much celebrated in London; two rope walks (Irwin's and^Davis'); three copper 
and tin factories, (Gazzam's, Harbeson's and Bantin and Milterberger's.j" 



56 



Pittsburgh and Allegheny 



1808. There were in the town the following '^master workmen in each par- 
ticular branch of business carried on in Pittsburgh:" 



1 Cotton Factory, 

1 Green Glass works, 

2 Breweries, 

1 Air Furnace, 

4 Nail Factories, 

7 Coppersmiths, 

1 Wire Manufactory, 

1 Brass Foundry, 
6 Saddlers, 

2 Gunsmiths, 

2 Tobacconists, 
1 Bell maker, 

1 Scythe and sickle maker 
5 miles up the Allegh'y 

2 Soap boilers and tallow 
chandlers, 

1 Brush maker, 
1 Trunk maker, 

5 Coopers, 
10 Blue dyers, 
13 Weavers, 

1 Comb maker, 
Y Cabinet makers, 

1 Turner, 

6 Bakers, 

8 Butchers, 

2 Barbers, 
6 Hatters, 

4 Physicians, 

2 Potteries, 

2 Straw Bonnet makers, 

1 Reed maker. 



1 Wool and Cotton Cord 

manufacturer, 
4 Plane makers, 

6 Milliners, 

12 Mantua makers, 
1 Stocking weaver, 

1 Glass cutter, 

2 Book Binderies, 

4 House and sign painters 
2 Tinners, 

1 Sail maker, 

2 Mattress makers, 

1 Upholster, 

3 Wagon makers, 

5 Watch and Clock ma- 
kers and Silversmiths, 

5 Brick Layers, 

4 Plasterers, 

3 Stone Cutters, 

5 Boat Builders, 

2 Ship Builders, 

1 Saddletree maker, 
1 Flute and Jewsharp ma- 
ker, 
1 Pump maker, 

1 Bell hanger, 

2 Looking-glass makers, 
1 Ladies' lace " 

1 Lock maker, 

7 Tanners, 

2 Rope walks, 

2 Spinning Wheels, 



17 Blacksmiths, 
1 Machinist and White- 
smith, 
1 Cutter and tool maker. 

32 House Carpenters and 
Joiners, 

21 Boot and Shoe makers^ 
1 Ladies' shoe maker, 
5 Windsor chair makers, 
1 Split-bottom chair ma- 
ker, 

13 Tailors, 

3 Spinning-wheel spindle- 
and crank makers, 

1 Breeches maker, 
1 Glove maker, 
12 School Mistresses, 

33 Tavern keepers, 

50 Store keepers or mer- 
chants, 

4 Printing offices, 

1 Copper plate printer^ 

5 Brick yards, 

3 Stone masons, 

2 Booksellers, 

1 Harness maker, 

1 Horse farrier, 

1 Starch maker, 

1 Gardner and seedman^ 

3 Board & lumber yards.. 



Some of the comments upon the various occupations, as given in the account 

from which we copy, are illustrative of the times, viz : The cotton factory is 

« 
mentioned as producing cotton yarns, <fec. '' to the great credit and profit of its 

industrious proprietor." The comb maker ''wants horns, and gives for good 

ones |3 per 100." "Two rope walks (at which hemp is much wanted)." The 

machinist is announced as '' equal if not superior to any workman in the United 

States." 



In the Centennial Year. 57 

In addition to the manufactories enumerated in 1808, there were in 1809, 

1 " White Glass Works, Messrs. Robinson & Ensell, in which is manufactured 

all kinds of Glass-ware of a good quality." 

1 ''Bell-metal Button manufactory, bj Thomas Neal — the buttons well made 

and sell as manufactured — 60 cents per gross. He gives the highest price for 

old pewter, brass and copper." 

1 Pipe manufactory by Mr. Price. 
1 Cotton " by Mr. Scott, 

1 Patent boot and shoe maker. "The heel and soal is tacked — without a 

stitch — and are strong. Abel Smith is the patentee." 

1810^. According to "A cursory view of the principal manufactures in and 

adjacent to Pittsburgh" there were in the town — 

Three Glass Works ''in handsome operation," producing flint glass to 

value of $30,000 

Producing Bottles and window glass, to value of 40,000 

Two Cotton Mills '• are working 60 spindles, the other contemplates work- 
ing shortly 234 spindles." Their manufactures are set down at a 

value of 20,000 

"Their machines are set in motion by the power of horses." 

One Air Furnace, which "lately cast 70 tons of cannon balls for the 
United States." 

One Iron grinding mill, "recently got into operation." 

"A manufactory of white metal buttons to the extent of 40 or 60 gross 
a week." 

Of Ironmongery, there were made "of chisels, claw hammers, steel-yards, 
shingling hatchets, drawing knives, cutting knives, shovels, tongs, 
hackels, gimlets, augers, squares, door handles, Jack screws, files, 
stock locks, spinning-wheel irons, axes, hoes, chains, kitchenware, 
&c." to amount of 15,000^ 

Of Nails, there were " manufactories of these in town which make about 
200 tons cut and wrought nails of all sizes annually." 

It is mentioned of bri41e bits and stirrups, that "a manufactory of these 
has been recently established." 

Of tin, copper and Japan ware there were " six manufactories briskly 

carried on," manufacturing to amount of . . 30,000 

Wire weaving was carried on to a considerable extent. 

Of Glass cutting it is recorded, "The business has been recently estab- 
lished by an ingenious German, (Eichbaum,) formerly glass cutter to Louis XVI, 
late King of France. We have seen a six light chandelier with prisms of his cutting 
which does credit to the workman and reflects honor on our country, for we 
have reason to believe it is the first ever cut in the United States. It is suspend- 
ed in the Ohio Lodge^ No. 113, in the house of Mr. Kerr, innkeeper." 



58 Pittsburgh and Allegheny 

About 52,800 yards were annuallj woven of linsey-woolsey, cotton, and 

linen mixed, averaging 6Q cents per yard, worth 38,848 

Of Linen, Cramer's Almanack says, ''About 80,000 yards of flaxen linen, 
coarse and fine, are brought to the Pittsburgh market yearly." The 
average price appears to have been about 60 cents. 

Of this article the same publication says: ''We feel a pleasure in having seen 
a fine piece of linen made by Mrs. James Gormly of this place ; it is spun six 
dozen cuts to the pound, and is 1600 in quality, it sold for $1.50 per yard." * 
^^^^^^^ii Let it no longer be foolishly and roundly asserted that 
American flax will not make, nor that American women cannot spin fine linen." 

In connection with this it will not be out of place to say, that all the publica- 
tions of about this date, contain articles, and many from distinguished citizens, 
urging the manufacture of linen, and attention to the culture of flax. Pittsburgh 
appears to have been then looked to as the most important point for the estab- 
lishment of such factories. 

Says one publication of the manufacture of fine thread: "We are happy to 
find that fine and beautiful thread is now spun and brought to our market. We 
have seen some of twelve dozen cuts to the pound, about the quality of No. 28 
imported." 

Of Rope Walks there was but one, and that on a small scale. 

3,000 pounds of rappee snufi" and 800,000 segars were manufactured princi- 
pally from Kentucky tobacco, at that date. 

We quote the writer in full upon the two articles, flour and whisky: "Of 
these articles a vast and unknown amount is made throughout this country. 
There is too little foreign demand for the former and too great a home consump- 
tion of the latter." 

Of boat and ship building, the publication from which we extract. Bays: 
^'Kentucky and New Orleans boats, keels, barges, skiff's, &c. are made in great 
numbers on all our rivers. And there is a vessel of 150 tons now building on the 
Allegheny, by Mr. Robbins." 

At that date one steam mill had been erected by Ow^n and Oliver Evans, of 
Philadelphia, at a cost of $14,000. "She is calculated for three pairs of stones, 
which it is expected will make 100 barrels of flour in the 24 hours." 

In that year it was estimated that within sixty miles of Pittsburgh, "abou* 
4,000 tons of bar iron, 18,000 tons of pigs and castings, and 400 tons of slat iron 
were made annually. Exclusive of what is made at these forges, there are about 
500 tons of rolled and bar iron come to our market annually from forges in the 
mountains." 

The business of saddlery is " carried on briskly to the value of about $40,000." 

The account of boots and shoes says "there are made in this place to the 
Amount of 45,000 pairs of shoes and 15,000 pairs of boots, annually." 



In the Centennial Year. 



59 



In 1812, an article for Cramer's Pittsburgh Magazine Almanack of that year, 
■set down the manufactures of Pittsburgh as follows, from the enumeration by 



the marshal, in 1810: 



One steam grist mill, manufac- 
tures 60,000 bushels of grain. 
Three carding and spinning mills 

manufacture to value of |514,248 
One flat iron mill, manufacture 

to value of 2,000 

Two distilleries, make 600 bar- 
rels of whisky. 
Four brick yards, make to 

amount of 13,600 

One rope walk, makes to amount 

of 2,500 

Two air furnaces, make 400 tons, 

to amount of 40,000 

Three red lead factories, . . . 13,100 
Six nailories, make to amount of 49,890 

Three glass works, 62,000 

Two potteries, 3,400 

Two gunsmitheries 2,400 

-Sixteen looms, manufacture 19,- 
443 yards of cloth. 



Three tobacconists, .... 

Six tanneries, 

Seventeen smitheries, .... 

Four cooperies, 

Saddles, boots and shoes, . . 

Ten batteries, 

Four silversmiths and watch- 
makers, 

Six copper, brass and tin facto- 
ries, 

Three stone cutters, .... 

Three boat and ship builders. 

Two wagon makers, .... 

Three chandlers, 

One button manufactory, . . 

One stocking weaver. 

One cutlery, 

One glass cutting, 

One wire weaving establishment. 

Three printing establishments. 

One book bindery. 



11,500 
15,500 
34,400 
2,250 
65,878 
24,507 



9,500 



25,500 
8,800 

43,000 
2,872 

14,500 
3,000 



3,000 
1,000 



Upon this statement the writer of the article remarks that some of the eati- 
mates are too low for the time, especially in the saddlery line, which was ascer- 
tained in 1807, with some degree of accuracy, to amount to $40,000. In the same 
year, boots and shoes were made to amount to $70,000. The value of the abore 
manufactures is given at $2,000,000. The same article also mentions that the 
manufacture of coffee mills and locks by James Patterson, an English artist, has 
lately commenced. 

In 1813, there were five glass factories in the town, producing flint and green 
glass to amount of $160,000; two large air foundries, M'Clurg's & Beelen's, 
casting about 600 tons a year, worth $54,000 ; also, one small one, carried on by 
Mr. Price, for casting butt hinges, &c. ; one extensive edge tool and cutlery 
manufactory, Messrs. Brown, Barker &; Butler; one steam works, carried on by 
Messrs. Foster & Murray, for making shovels, spades, scythes, &c. ; one rolling 
mill (erecting) by C. Cowan, with a capital of $100,000; one lock factory (Pat- 
terson's) ; one factory (Updegraff) for files, door handles, &c. ; two steam engine 
works (Stackhouse & Rodger's and Tustin's) ; one steel furnace (Tuper & 
M'Kowan); one wool carding machine factory (James Cummins); one woolen 
factory (James Arthurs); one flannel and blanket factory (Geo. Cochrane); one 



60 



Pittsburgh and Allegheny 



cloth steam machine factory (Isaac Wickersham) ; two manufacturers of stirrup 
irons and bridle bits ; one wheel iron factory (Stevenson & Youard) ; one wire 
mill, (Eichbaum & Sons); one button factory (Reuben Neal); one knitting needle 
factory (Frithy & Pratt); two silver platers (Benj. Kindricks and Mr. Ayers) ; 
one morocco factory (Scully & Graham); one white lead factory (Beelen); one 
suspender factory (William Gore); one brass foundry (Thomas Cooper) ; one 
trunk factory (J. M. Sloan) ; one brush factory (Mr. Blair) ; six saddle factories ; 
two breweries; one steam flour mill; one rope walk (John Irwin & Co.); eleven 
copper factories, and three plane factories (Wm. Scott and Lithgrow). 

The following account of manufactures carried on in the city and vicinity 
was collected under the direction of Councils, and reported to them in January, 
1817, by their Committee: 



Business. ] 


^0. 


Hands 


.. Amount 


Business. No. 


Hands 


. Amount 


Auger maker, . 


1 


6 


$ 3,500 


Plane maker, ... 3 


6 


57,600 


Bellows maker, . . 


1 


3 


10,000 


Potter fine ware, . . 1 


5 


8,000 


Blacksmith, . . . 


18 


U 


75,100 


Rope maker, ... 1 


8 


15,000 


Brewers, .... 


3 


17 


72,000 


Spinning machine 




^ 


Brush makers, . . 


3 


7 


8,000 


maker, . • . . 1 


6 


6,000 


Button maker, . . 


1 


6 


6,250 


Spanish brown manu- 






Cotton spinners, . . 


2 


36 


25,518 


factory, ... 1 


2 


6,720 


Copper and tin smiths, 


11 


100 


200,000 


Silver plater, ... 1 


40 


20,000 


Cabinet makers, . . 


1 


43 


40,000 


Steam engine makers, 2 


70 


125,000 


Currier, 


1 


4 


12,000 


Steam grist mills, . 2 


10 


50,000 


Cutlers, 


2 


6 


2,000 


Saddlers, .... 6 


60 


86,000 


Iron foundries, . . 


4 


87 


180,000 


Silversmiths, &c., . 5 


17 


12,000 


Gunsmiths and bit 








Shoe and boot makers, 14 


109 


120,000 


makers,. . . . 


3 


14 


13,800 


Tanners, .... 7 


47 


58,860 


Flint glass factories. 


2 


82 


110,000 


Tallow chandlers, . 4 


7 


32,600 


Green glass factories. 


3 


92 


130,000 


Tobacconists, . . 4 


23 


21,000 


Hardware merchants, 


2 


17 


18,000 


Wagon makers, . 5 


21 


28,500 


Hatters, 




49 


44,640 


Weavers, ... 2 


9 


14,562 


Locksmith, . . . 




7 


12,000 


Windsor chair makers, 3 


23 


42,600 


Linen manufactory, 




20 


25,000 


Woolen manufacturers, 2 


30 


17,000 


Nail manufactory, . 




47 


174,716 


Wire drawer, . . 1 


12 


6,000 


Paper maker, . . . 




40 


23,000 


White lead factory, . 1 


6 


40,000 


Pattern maker, . . 




2 


1,500 









Making 148 manufactories, employing 1280 hands, and producing $1,896,366 
worth of articles. 



In the Centennial Year, 61 



In addition there were the following trades returned by committee, of which 
no details of hands and products were furnished by ''conductors:" 

Chair makers, 3 Printers, 6 

Currier, 1 Plane makers, 1 

Cabinet makers, 2 Blacksmiths, 21 

Cotton carder, 1 Shoemakers, 23 

Comb maker, 1 Saddlers, 2 

Coach maker, 1 Silk Dyer, ......... 1 

Copper plate printer, 2 Stone cutters, 6 

Book binders, 3 Tallow chandlers, 3 

Hatters, 4 Tanners, 5 

Oilder, • . 1 Weavers, 15 

Machine makers, .2 Wire worker, ........ 1 

Nailers, 5 Coffee mill maker, 1 

These latter employing 357 hands, and produce $700,000 of manufactures. 
Being 259 factories, employing 1637 hands, and producing $2,266,366 of manu- 
factures. 

In 1825, the Gazette of November 19th says, there are seven rolling mills, 
eight air foundries, six steam engine manufactories, and one extensive wire man- 
ufactory. 

In the same year, and at the same date, Niles' Register states that window 
glass is made to the amount of 27,000 boxes, having a value of $135,000, and 
flint glass to the value of $30,000— about $100,000 of which is exported. 

In 1829, the Pittsburgh Gazette says, "There are in Pittsburgh nine foundries 
that consume 3,500 tons of metal, and employ 225 hands; eight rolling mills, 
using 6,000 tons of blooms, 1,500 tons pig iron, and employing 300 hands; nine 
nail factories, employing 150 hands and producing eighteen tons of nails; seven 
steam engine factories, employing 210 hands, and that the total consumption of 
iron was 6,000 tons pig and an equal quantity of blooms." 

In 1830, there were 9,282 tons of iron rolled and 100 steam engines built. 

In 1831 there were eight glass houses, four flint glass, 32 pots, four window 
glass, employing 102 hands, using 7,000 cords of wood, 700 tons of sand, 1,000 
barrels of salt, 40,000 pounds of potash, 150,000 bushels of coal, producing 
about $500,000. 

Twelve foundries in and near Pittsburgh which consumed 87,000 bushels of 
coal; cast 2,963 tons of metal; employed 132 hands; produced to value of 
$189,614. 



62 



Pittsburgh and Allegheny 



There are the following rolling mills and nail factories :* 

Mills. Weight of Metal. 

Union, 720,000 

Sligo, 400,000 

Pittsburgh, 782,887 

Grant's Hill, 500,000 

Juniata, 500,000 

Pine Creek, 457,000 

Miscellaneous, 360,000 

There were in operation 37 Steam Engines. 



Value. 
$43,000 
32,000 
86,544 
20,000 
30,000 
34,100 
28,200 



In 1836 there was given bj authority quoted,! the following statement of 
rolling mills : 

Mill. 
Kensington, 
Pennsylvani 
Juniata, . 
Sligo, . . 



Bowen, 



Firm. 




Tona 
Pigs. 


Tons 
Blooms. 


Bush. Coal 
and Coke. 


Hands. 


Engines. 


Leonard, Semple & Co., 




2,500 


500 


250,000 


170 


2 


Miltenberger & Brown, 




3,500 


1,500 


360,000 


110 


2 


G. & J. H. Shoenberger, 






4,000 


180,000 


90 


2 


Lyon, Shorb & Co., . . 






4,600 


220,000 


90 


— 


Lippincott & Bro., . . 






800 


75,000 


50 


— 


Smith, Royer & Co., . 




2,500 


500 


250,000 


150 


— 


Bissell & Co., . . . 




2,450 


1,100 


200,000 


100 


— 


Beelen & Co., . . . 
H. S. Spang & Son, 


} 




4,500 


41,500 


240 


- 



Nine mills; 28,000 tons of pig and blooms; 1,000 hands; 2,000,000 bushels of 
coal, and $4,160,000 product.^ 

Eighteen foundries, engine and machine shops, consuming 500,000 bushels of 
coal and coke, 12,000 tons of pig metal, 3,000 tons of sheet and boiler iron; 
employing 1,000 hands; produce $2,130,000 manufactures. Of these, McClurg, 
Wade & Co., Arthurs, Stewart & Co., Robinson & Minnis, Arthurs, Nicholson & 
Co., Bemis & Co., Stackhouse & Tomlinson, Warden & Benny, Freeman & Miller, 
Kingsland & Lightner, are nine of the firms — four being engine manufacturers, 
four foundries for all description of castings. The eight used 6,500 tons of pigs, 
and employed 780 hands. Four of the engine shops turned out in the year 56 
engines and 158 boilers. 



* Peck and Tanner's Guides, 1831, f Lyford's Western Directory. 

X In this valuation is included bar and sheet iron, shovels, axes, hoes, saws, steel, nails, spikes, 
wire, Ac. 



In the Centennial Year. 



6S 



The following establishments are given from data collected from Lyford's and 
Harris' Directory, 1837, and other publications: • 



Glass Works. 



Style. 

Stourbridge, 
Pennsylvania, 

Birmingham, 



Firm. 



Bakewell <fc Co., Flint, 

Robinson, Anderson & Co., . . " 

Whitehead, Ihmsen & Phillips, . " 

'' "■ '' . Black, 

C. Ihmsen & Co., Vial, 

'^ Window 

Park, Campbell & Hanna, . . . Flint, 

O'Leary, Mulvany & Co., ... ** 

Curling, Robertson & Co., ... " 

S. M'Kee & Co., Window, 

W. M' Cully, ....... \ 

W. A. Buchanan, v Window, 

F. Lorenz, ....... j 



lands 


Value. 


65 


% 9o,ooa 


114 


120,000 


32 


60,000 


32 


38,500 


36 


38,500 


40 


50,000 


45 


60,000 


50 


70,000 


40 


38,500 




62,55a 



Cotton Factories. 



Style. 

Phoenix, . 

Pittsburgh. 

Hope, . . 

Eagle, . . 

Union, . . 

Globe, . . 



Firm. 



. Adams, Allen <fe Co. . 
. Blackstock, Bell k Co., 
. Marshall, M'C. & Co., 
. Arbuckle <fe Avery, . 
. George Beale, . . 
. Lewis Peterson, . . 



Total, 6, 



Bales 
Cotton. 

1,100 

1,500 

1,500 

1,300 

450 

350 



6,200 



Spindles. 


Hands. 


Looms 


. Value. 


5,000 


220 


76 


1150,000 


5,000 


210 


42 


200,000. 


5,000 


200 




180,000 


3,600 


150 




150,000 


2,200 


70 




50,000 


1,000 


50 




40,000 



21,800 



900 118 $770,000^ 



Lyford gives the spindles of the same factories at 28,900; operatives at 1,030, 
and states that 2,100,000 yards of brown sheetings are made. 



Style. 
Point, . 
Pittsburgh, . 
Wainright's, 
Franklin, 
Allegheny, . 



Breweries. 
Firm. Hands. 

. G. J. & P. Shiras, 20 

. Brown & Verner, ....... 21 

. J. Wainwright, 4 

. Coltart & Dilworth, 9 



W. A. Irwin & Co 7 



Barrels. 


Value. 


6,000 


138,000 


6,000 


40,000 


1,000 


6,000 


2,500 


16,500 


3,300 


18,000 



Total, 5, 



61 18,800 $118,500 



♦Harris' Directory, 1837. 



64 Pittsburgh and Allegheny 



Lead Factories, 

» Kegs. Pounds. Value. 

Avery & Ogden, 24,000 600,000 $60,000 

H. Brunot, 8,000 200,000 22,000 

B. M'Clean & Co., 6,000 150,000 18,000 

Madeira & Aston, • 8,696 1H,000 24,000 

J. Hannen, 5,600 140,000 16,000 

Daniel King, 4,800 120,000 14,000 

Porter & Breckenbridge, 7,000 175,000 21,000 

Oregg & Hagner, 10,000 360,000 31,000 

Total, 8, 74,496 1,819,000 $206,000 

Rope Walks. 

Tons Hemp, &c. Hands. Value. 

John Irwin & Son, 300 50 ^ $100,000 

Smith & Guthrie, (new,) 400 50 120,000 

Long & Co., 7 30,000 

In 1836, Mr. Lyford, in his Western Address Directory, figures up the busi- 
ness of Pittsburgh as follows : 

Steamboats, $ 960,000 

Rolling Mills, proceeds of, 4,160,000 

Iron Foundries, Engine and Machine Shops, proceeds of, .... 2,130,000 

Plint Glass Works, proceeds of, 560,000 

Window-Glass and Hollow ware, value of, 700,000 

€otton Factories, proceeds of, 500,000 

Rope Walk, " '' . . • : . . . 80,000 

Pap^r Mill, " '' 20,000 

Chemical Factories and Lead Works, proceeds of, 241,000 

Linseed Oil, value of, 50,000 

Ploughs, '' '' 174,000 

All other manufactures, 6,000,000 

Total, $15,575,000 

In 1837, Harris' Directory sums up the manufactories of the city thus: 

6 Cotton factories, $ 770,000 

8 White lead factories, 206,000 

Manufactories of Birmingham, 2,491,000 

6 Iron manufacturing establishments and rolling mills east of Mo- 

nongahela, 1,957,500 

9 Iron foundries, 500,000 

10 Steam engine factories, and foundries attached, 700,000 

7 Glass manufactories, east of Monongahela, 430,000 



In the Centennial Year. 65 

3 Rope-walks, 250,000 

3 Iron manufactories of saws, shovels, spades, hoes, axes, nails, &c., 230,000 

Livingston's platform scale manufactory, 60,000 

IngersoFs steam hat body manufactory, . . ' 11,250 

All other manufactories .and mechanical productions of the city 

and environs, 4,000,000 

Total manufactories, &c., $11,606,350 

The mercantile business is summed up at, 13,100,000 

The commission business at, 5,875,000 

The coal trade, 565,200 

Making a total of, $31,146,550 

In 1840 there were returned by the census of that year as in Pittsburgh, Alle- 
gheny and Birmingham : 

28 Lumber yards, with a capital of f 226,300 

27 Furnaces and 7 forges, with a capital of 1,500,000 

10 Xrlass-houses and 6 glass cutting works, with a capital of . . . 220,000 

5 Cotton factories with 17,270 spindles. 

1 Pottery, 1 fulling mill, 6 tanneries, 5 breweries, 2 flouring mills, 1 

oil mill, 1 rope-walk, all of which employed a capital of . . 2,111,390 

In 1857 a volume entitled "Pittsburgh As It Is," publishing the trade statistics 
of the city in 1856, in which year the facts and figures were gathered, shows the 
business and manufactures of the city, so far as they could be obtained^ to be as 
given in the following tables and statements. This is exclusive of the retail trade. 
Much of the manufacturing business, like the making of bricks, gas, houses,^and 
such similar employments of the population, which, though part of its business 
and proper to be included, were not given, as the figures were unattainable, as 
were the statistics of other branches of trade for the same reason. Those com- 
pulsorily omitted would swell the sum total of the business of the city in 1856, 
greatly. 

The information, so far as contained in the volume mentioned, states that 
that there were in Pittsburgh and Allegheny in 1856: 

.25 Rolling Mills, having — ■ 

165 heating furnaces, 262 puddling furnaces, 448 nail machines; employ- 
ing 4,623 hands, whose yearly wages were $2,866,020.00; and consuming 
140,000 pig iron, scrap and blooms. 

16 Foundries, having — 

30 cupalos and air furnaces, with a yearly capacity of 44,300 tons; con- 
suming 19,200 tons of pig iron; employing 860 hands, whose wages were 
$346,500. 



66 Pittsburgh and Allegheny 

1 Cannon Foundry, consuming — 

600 tons pig metal; employing 28 hands, whose wages were $12,040. 

16 Machine Shops, having — 

12 Foundries, with 18 cupalos, of a yearly capacity of 22,600 tons, con^ 
suming 8,800 tons of metal a year; employing 131 hands, whose wages- 
were 1306,802. 

1 Boiler Yards, employing — 

1049 hands, whose yearly wages were $75,980; consuming 1470 tons of 
boiler and sheet iron. 
4 Shovel and Axe Factories, employing — 

495 hands, whose yearly wages were $231,660; consuming 3,743 tons iron 
and steel. 

2 Forges, employing — 

57 men, whose yearly wages were $29,600 ; consuming 1,950 tons iron. 

1 Chain Factories and River Blacksmiths, employing — 

48 hands, whose wages were $18,100; consuming 985 tons of iron. Also- 
100 General Jobbing Blacksmiths, employing between 300 and 600 hands. 

2 Hot Pressed Nut Factories, employing — 

52 hands, whose wages were $19,344; having 12 machines and 5 heating 
furnaces. 

1 Railroad Spike Factory, having — 

3 machines employing 20 hands, whose wages were $9,360. 

3 Iron Railway Screw and Machine Factories, employing — • 

54 men, whose yearly wages were $15,460; consuming bar iron and other- 
material to amount of $38,485. 

3 Safe Factories, employing — 

65 hands, whose yearly wages were $28,600, and consuming material to 
amount of $59,700. 

3 Cutlery Factories, employing — 

29 men, whose yearly wages were $12,080; consuming material to amount 
of $5,335. 

2 Smut Machine Factories, employing — 

6 hands, and producing machines to amount of $30,000. 
1 File Factory, employing — 

15 hands, whose yearly wages were $6,240. 
1 Boiler Rivet and Spike Factory, having — 

4 machines with a capacity of 12,000 kegs yearly; employing 10 hands,, 
whose wages were $6,000 yearly. 

1 Sickle Factory, producing — 

3,000 doz. sickles annually. 

2 Saddlery Hardware Factories, employing — 

85 hands, whose wages were $22,800 yearly; consuming $15,402 of pig; 
iron, bar iron, silver and other material annually. 



In the Centennial Year. 67' 

i 

1 Rivet Mill, employing 8 hands. 

1 Wire Factory, employing — 

15 hands, whose yearly wages were $7,020. 

2 Gun Barrel Factories, employing — 

30 men, whose yearly wages were $16,720; consuming material to amount 
of $8,620.50. 

1 Rifle and Gun Factory, employing — 

25 hands, whose yearly wages were $15,600. 

1 Repeating Pistol Factory. 

2 Domestic Hardware Factories, having — 

6 cupalos, with a yearly capacity of 6,500 tons of pig iron a year; con- 
suming 2,200 tons of metal and other material to the value of $50,700; 
employing 500 hands, whose yearly wages were $15,600. 

3 Plow Factories, having — 

4 cupalos with a capacity of 5,300 tons; consuming 1,375 tons of pig 
and scrap iron, and other material to amount of $79,750; employing 
120 hands, whose yearly wages were $71,760. 

1 Life Boat Factory, employing — 

10 hands, whose wages were $3,900 annually; consuming 10 tons of gal- 
vanized iron a year. 

1 Copper Rolling Mill, of which no statistics were furnished in 1856. 

28 Copper and Tin Smiths, employing — 

150 hands,_whose yearly wages were $56,000; consuming 2,877 boxes of 
tin, 170,000 lbs. copper, and other material to amount of $40,000. 

5 Cotton Mills, having — 

33,666 spindles, 659 looms, 187 cards, using 12,600 bales of cotton, and 
employing 1,330 hands, whose yearly wages were $325,000. 

3 White Lead Works, employing — 

65 hands, whose yearly wages were $38,800 ; consuming material, includ- 
ing 2,066 tons of white lead, to amount of $392,380. 

34 Glass Factories, employing — 

1982 hands, whose yearly wages were $910,116, and consuming material 
to amout of $2,078,734.40. 

1 Stained Glass Factory, employing 4 hands, whose wages were $1,872. 

4 Looking Glass Factories, employing — 

88 men, whose wages were $36,400, and consuming material to amount of 

$152,740. 
10 Brass Foundries, employing — 

71 hands, whose yearly wages were $34,000; consuming material to 

amount of $60,000. 
1 Bell Foundry. 



68 Pittsburgh and Allegheny 

1 Japan Ware and Press Goods Factory, employing — 

40 hands, whose yearly wages amounted to |16,600; consuming 2,500 

boxes of tin. 
1 Britannia Ware Factory, employing — 

18 hands, whose yearly wages were $4,680. 

1 Wire Cloth Factory, employing 4 men, whose wages were about 12,700. 

3 Agricultural Implement Factories. 

3 Keg Factories, employing 180 hands, whose yearly wages were $56,000. 

2 'Railroad Car Factories, employing 61 hands, whose wages were $28,538. 
1 Bucket Factory, employing 30 hands, making 320,000 buckets and tubs. 

6 Coach and Carriage Factories, employing — 

llY hands, whose wages were $60,800 annually; using material to the 

value of $59,800. 
29 Wagon Factories, employing — 

225 hands, whose wages were $72,480; consuming material to amount of 

$71,000, and produing 2,120 wagons and carts. 
13 Tanneries, having — 

447 vats, employing 132 hands, whose yearly wages were $54,902; tanning 

108,720 ox, calf and sheep skins. 
27 Breweries, employing — 

199 hands, whose wages were $64,140; consuming 488,000 bushels of 

grain and 304,000 lbs. of hops. 
6 Cracker Factories, employing — 

39 hands, whose yearly wages were $12,064; consuming 10,450 barrels 

of flour. 
6 Marble Works, employing — 

71 hands; consuming 450 tons of marble; whose wages were $36,000 

annually. 
16 Cabinet and Chair Factories, employing — 

504 hands, whose yearly wages were $96,500 ; consuming material to the 

value of $107,792. 
8 Soap and Candle Factories, employing — 

102 hands, whose yearly wages amount to $2,920; consuming material 

to amount of $36,850. 
1_^Glue Factory, employing — 

8 hands, whose wages were $156,000 yearly; using material to amount of 

$3,500. 
5 Lime Manufactories, employing 50 hands, whose wages amount to $17,200. 
1 Slate Roofer, employing 15 hands, whose wages were $7,500 annually. 
1 Steam Woolen Stocking Factory, employing — 

100 hands, whose wages were $15,600: using yarn and dye stuffs to 

amount of $25,500. 



In the Centennial Year, 69 

2 Match Factories, employing — 

22 hands, whose wages were $3,482; consuming material to amount of 
$1,150. 
1 Zinc Washboard Factory, employing — 

5 hands, whose yearly wages were $1,500; consuming material to amount 
of $4,925.00. 

1 Porcelain Teeth Factory. 

1 Kid Glove Factory, employing 8 hands, whose wages were $1,250. 

1 Alcohol Distillery, employing — 

6 men, whose annual wages were $2,600; producing 15,000 barrels of 
alcohol, spirits and whisky. 

1 Ethereal Oil Factory, employing — 

3 men, whose wages were $1,500, and produce 22,000 gallons of oil. 

3 Linseed Oil Factories, employing — 

12 men, whose wages amounted to $4,368; consuming 32,000 bushels flax 
seed. 

2 Lard Oil Factories. 

2 Yarnish Factories, employing — 

6 hands, whose annual wages were $2,496; consuming material to amount 

of $38,621. 
lY Tobacco Manufactories, employing — 

198 hands, whose yearly wages were $61,7*76. 
2 Paper Manufactories, employing — 

57 hands, whose wages were $15,912; consuming material to amount of 

$59,720. 

1 Book Binders Board Factory, employing 20 hands. 

5 Flo,uring Mills, employing 44 hands, whose annual wages were $18,300. 

2 Spice Mills, employing 13 hands, whose wages were $4,732. 
2 Whip and Umbrella Factories. 

2 Saddle-tree Factories, employing 5 men, whose wages were $3,628. 

2 Coffee Extract Factories, employing 9 men, whose wages were $5,400. 

5 Potteries, employing 58 hands, whose yearly wages were $21,112. 

3 Brush Manufactories, employing 32 hands, whose wages were $7,80(^. 
2 Blacksmith Bellows Factories. 

6 Saddlery Harness Factories, employing — 

106 hands, whose yearly wages were $35,152. 

4 Trunk Factories, employing 36 hands, whose annual wages were $11,132. 
2 Patent Leather Factories, employing — 

75 hands, whose annual wages were $36,200; having a capacity of 23,000 

hides a year. 
1 Woolen Factory, employing 8 hands ; consuming 20,000 lbs. of wool. 
1 Comb Factory. 
1 Ice Chest Factory, employing 6 hands, whose wages were $2,496. 



70 Pittsburgh and Allegheny 

I Bobbin Factory, employing 4 hands, whose wages were $1,056. 
1 Broom Factory, producing — 

1,880 dozen brooms annually, and employing 5 hands, whose wages were 

about $1,800. 

1 Children's Carriage Factory, employing 8 hands. 

2 Box Factories, employing 14 hands, whose wages were $2,496. 

2 Pump Block Makers, employing 11 men. 

6 Turners, employing 41 hands, whose wages were $17,500. 

3 Rope Walks, employing 57 hands, whose wages were $17,784. 

3 Upholsters, employing 85 hands, whose wages were about $20,000.. 

1 Oil Cloth Factory, employing 20 hands, whose wages were $8,000 a year. 

17 Timber Yards. 

8 Sash and Door Factories, employing 80 hands, whose wages were $33,280. 

9 Planing Mills, employing 120 hands, whose wages were $76,584. 

7 Saw Mills, employing 70 men, whose wages were $26,280. 
1 Surveying Instrument Factory, employing — 

7 hands, whose wages were about $6,000 yearly. 

1 Gold Leaf Factory, producing 600 oz. leaf yearly. 

35 Boot and Shoe Houses, employing 90 h^nds, whose wages were about $47,000. 

9 Hat, Cap and Fur Houses, employing — 

56 hands, whose yearly wages were over $20,000. 

4 China Queensware Houses, employing — 

15 men, whose wages were about $8,000 a year. 
54 Clohthing Manufacturers, employing — 

1,500 hands, whose earnings were over $400,000 a year. 
11 Wholesale Druggists, employing — 

102 hands, whose wages amounted to $61,200. 

2 Trimming Stores, employing 17 hands, whose wages were 

6 Wholesale Variety Goods Houses, employing — 

23 hands, whose wages were $11,500 a year. 

18 Wholesale Confectioneries, employing — 

50 hands, whose wages were over $17,000 a year. 

10 Book and Stationery Stores, employing— 

29 hands, whose wages were about $12,000. 
14 Large Jewelry Houses, employing — 

42 hands, whose yearly wages were $21,000. 
2 Saddlery Hardware Houses, employing — 

11 hands, whose salaries were over $5,000 yearly. 
4 Wall Paper Dealers, employing — 

13 hands, and paying wages to amount of $5,300. 

7 Wholesale Leather Houses, employing — 

33 hands, whose salaries were $16,500 yearly. 



In the Centennial Year. 71 

*l Pork Packing Houses, employing — 

215 hands, whose wages were about $34,400. 
:2 Wholesale Straw Goods Houses, employing — 

20 hands, whose salaries were nearly $6,000. 
^2 Rectifiers and Liquor Houses, employing — 

109 hands, whose average wages were $43,895. 
^9 Feed Stores, employing 27 hands, whose yearly wages were about $11,000. 
49 Wholesale G-rocery Houses. 
20 Produce and Commission Houses. 

10 Forwarding and Commission Houses. 
4 Iron Commission Houses. 

4 Ship Chandlers. 

2 Wool Houses. 

Which last 91 houses employ 340 hands, whose salaries amount to over 
.^200,000. 

3 Wholesale Carpet Warehouses, employing — 

14 hands, whose salaries were $7,500 yearly. 
2 Auction Commission Houses. 
2 Lithographic Establishments. 

11 Daily Papers. 

11 Job Printing Offices. 

45 Wholesale and Retail Dry Goods Houses, employing — 

311 hands, and paying out about $165,000 a year salaries. 
15 Hardware Houses, employing — 

57 hands, whose yearly wages was aggregated at $37,500. 

4 Transportation Houses. 

3 of these employ 500 men, whose wages were about $150,000 a year, and 
96 canal boats, whose value was $83,400. 

The smaller and less prominent business of the city are not, as before stated, 
given in the volume referred to. The population of Pittsburgh and Allegheny 
cities and their adjoining boroughs was, in 1856, about 138,000, and as the sta- 
tistics of the retail trade of one city are the counterpart of those of another, 
«4ther increased or diminished by the number of its inhabitants, the aggregate 
•of that class of trade of Pittsburgh was, in 1856, it is to be safely assumed, the 
same in amount with any other city of a similar size. 

The value of the business of the establishments named in the foregoing 
enumeration, are given as follows in the publication quoted. As they were the 
result of a personal canvas by the author of the volume, they are believed to be 
nearly correct, and represent the value at that day of the manufacturing and 
wholesale trade of the city: 



72 



Pittsburgh and Allegheny 



Manufactures. 



Kolling Mills, 
Coal, . . . 



. fl0,'730,562 
. . 6,336,'720 



Lumber, 3,241,000 

Glass Factories, 2,631,990 

Boat Building, ..... 1,924,800 

Cotton Mills, 1,269,655 

Foundries, 1,248,300 

Soap and Candles, .... 960,000 

Flour Mills, 864,500 

Breweries, 864,000 

Axes and Shovels, .... 823,742 

Machine Shops, .^ .... 836,300 

Furniture, 503,000 

Tanneries, 463,320 

Domestic Hardware, . . . 450,000 

Distillery, 450,000 

Tobacco Factories, . . . 443,7*70 

White Lead Factories, . . 443,390 

Boiler Yards, . . ... . 305,000 

Steamboat and River Black- 



smiths, 



261,000 
250,000 



Railroad Spikes, ... 
Copper Rolling Mill, ... 

Forges,. . 224,500 

Nail Factories, .....' 229,700 

Wagon Factories, .... 204,500 

Plow Factories, 192,000 

Copper and Tin Smiths, • . 192,000 

Saddlery and Harness, . . 181,000 

Carriage Factories, . . . 175,000 

Looking Glass Factories, . 170,000 

Keg Factories, 156,000 

Salt, 130,000 

Rope Walks, 117,451 

Safe Factories, ..... 116,000 

Cracker Factories, .... 114,000 

Paper, 86,000 

Bucket Factories, . . . 
Patent Leather, .... 
Agricultural Implements, 

Brass Foundries, .... 75,000 



85,000 
80,000 
80,000 



Oil Cloth Factory, . . 
Marble Works, . . . 
Upholstering, . . .' 
Linseed Oil, .... 
Railroad Cars, . . . 

Lard Oil, 

Coffee Extract, . . . 
Japan Ware, ... . . 

Turners, 

Woolen Stockings, . . 
Boiler Rivets, . . . 
Iron Railings, 

Lime, 

Varnish, ....'. 
Saddlery Hardware, . 

Cannon, 

Smut Machines, 
Wire Factory, 
Gun and Rifle Factory, 
Brush Factory, . . . 
Whip Factories, . . 

Potteries, 

Sickle Factories, . . 

Cutlers, 

Trunk Factories, . . 
Gun Barrels, .... 
Gilt Moulding, . . . 
Spice Factory, . . . 
Rivet Factory, . . . 
Britannia Ware, . . 
Ethereal Oil, .... 
Box Factories, . . . 

Files, 

Brooms, 

Pumps and Blocks, . . 
Matches, ..... 
Blacksmith Bellows, . 
Life Boats, .... 
Survey Instruments, . 
Stained Glass, . . . 
Wire Cloth, .... 



75,000 
75,000 

7o,ooa 

71,500 

65,000 

60,000 

60,000 

60,000 

55,000 

50,000 

50,000 

52,000 

48,000 

46,500 

44,000 

40,000 

40,000 

40,000 

40,000 

40,000 

34,000 

33,000 

30,000 

30,000 

30,000 

28,875 

25,000 

25,000 

20,000 

18,000 

20,000 

12,480 

12,000 

11,000 

10,000 

10,752 

10,000 

10,000 

10,000 

10,000 

10,000 



In the Centennial Year. 



73 



7,500 Woolen Factories, 



5,000 



6,750 


Saddle Trees, . . . 


. . 5,ooa 


6,000 


Bobbins, 


. . 2,500 


6,650 


Combs, 


. . 1,000 



Glue Factory, 

Washboard Factory, . . . 
Children's Carriage Factory 
Kid Gloves, 

The total of these figures are $39,431,717 of manufactures, so far as this 
list extends. 

The same volume gives, as the sales of the wholesale trade : 

Groceries, $5,812,000 Hats, Caps and Furs 

Produce, 3,244,000 Leather, .... 

Pig Iron, 3,255,150 

Dry Goods, 2,843,230 

Clothing, 960.000 

Boots and Shoes, .... 806,000 

Drugs, 725,000 

Rectifiers and Liquors, 
Pork Packers 



731,890 
645,000 

Hardware, 615,000 

Jewelry and Watches, . . 375,000 

Variety Goods, 284,000 

Manufacturing Confectioners, 279,000 
Soda, . . . . y . . . 270,000 



Books and Stationery, 
Tin and Metals, . . 
Feed, ._ . . . . 
Saddlery Hardware, 
Carpets, .... 
Trimmings, . 
Straw Goods, . . 
Paper and Rags, 
China and Queensware 
Wall Paper, . . . 
Bonnet Factories, . 



250,000 
252,000 
225,000 
216,000 
214,000 
130,000 
125,000 
111,000 
108,000 
80,000 
75,000 
56,000 
36,000 



These figures give an aggregate of the wholesale trade in the branches given 
at $22,723,370. As the volume from whence the figures are quoted, regrets in- 
ability to obtain figures of some branches of manufactures, and there are other 
business not mentioned, which are properly to be classed with the manufactures 
of the city, it is probable that the manufactures and wholesale business of the 
city in 1856 was about seventy million of dollars. In 1837 the manufactures of 
the city was summed up at $11,606,350, and the coal trade at 565,200, or $12,- 
175,550. In 1856, twenty years after, it is clearly $39,431,717 from actual figures 
given, an increase of over 300 per cent, in that time, although it was probably 
more for the reason given. The whole mercantile and commercial business in 
1837 is given at $18,975,000, and that includes the retail trade. In 1857 the 
wholesale trade alone is, without the commission business, other than pig metal, 
$22,72.3,370. What per cent, of increase that may be, cannot be shown as in 
the figures of 1837, are included the retail trade of the city, while in those of 
1856, the retail trade is omitted, and all of the commission business, with the 
exception of pig iron. 



74 Pittsburgh and Allegheny 



CHAPTER VI. 



GROWTH OF POPULATION AT PITTSBURGH. 



Frugality and industry are prominent characteristics of the inhabitants of 
Pittsburgh; consequently a large amount of conservatism is observable in all 
their transactions. 

The industry of its population is not surpassed by that of any other city; 
a-nd there is, for all the wealth of its population, fewer gentlemen of leisure than 
in any city of the Union. 

There are at the present time but few families in which the male members 
are not engaged in some occupation from day to day, of either a professional, 
mercantile or mechanical character; and there could not be pointed out half a 
dozen men of wealth who, themselves or their sons, lead the life of leisure 
which is usually led by persons equally wealthy, in other cities of the Union. 

In the wealth of their population, Pittsburgh and Allegheny would probably 
•compare unfavorably with the large eastern cities as to the number of persons 
usually termed millionaires, implying the possession of $500,000 or over. Yet^ 
in point of persons who may be considered independent, and those possessing 
handsome fortunes and competencies, there is in all possibility no other city, for 
the same population, can compare favorably with Pittsburgh. 

The wealth of the city is generally distributed — a result of the frugality and 
industry before mentioned, as well as of the opportunities here, for the accumu- 
lation of money. 

The population of Pittsburgh, including Allegheny, is at the present time 
over 200,000, even leaving out precincts which might be truthfully classified in 
the city. There are many towns whose growth seems to have been more rapid 
than Pittsburgh, and probably for a short period has been so; yet, viewing the 
increase of Pittsburgh for a series of years, we find there has been, in the swell 
of population, a progress which has attracted but little attention, and is in its 
comparative ratio with the growth of other points, undervalued by even her own 
citizens. 

That progress is best shown by progressional ratios. In 1800 the population 
of the portion of the western country to whose borders Pittsburgh has naviga- 
tion, as shown in the chapter on the geographical position of the city, was 
-385,647, while that of the city itself was 1,565, or a little over four-tenths of one 
per cent. In 1810 there were in the same territory 1,075,531 inhabitants, and in 
Pittsburgh 4,768, or nine-twentieths of one per cent. In 1820 the population of 



In the Centennial Year, 75 

the same section of the country was 2,541,552, and that of Pittsburgh 7,248, or 
not quite three-tenths of one per cent. In 1830 the same section of the Union 
had 3,331,298 inhabitants, and Pittsburgh 16,988, being over five-tenths of one 
per cent, of all. In 1840 there were 5,173,949 inhabitants in the western and 
southwestern States, while the population of Pittsburgh was 38,931, being 
iifteen-twentieths of one per cent. In 1850 the population of the section of the 
Union just mentioned, was 8,419,179, and that of Pittsburgh 79,873, being 
nineteen-twentieths of one per cent. In 1860 the population of the western and 
southwestern States was 11,489,318, and that of Pittsburgh and Allegheny 
cities, and their adjoining boroughs, whose population is really part of that of 
the two cities, was 124,844, being nearly one and one-tenth per cent. In 1870 
there was in the section of the Union under comparison, 14,583,567 inhabitants, 
while in the community of Pittsburgh and Allegheny there was a population of 
199,130, being one and nearly four-tenths per cent. Considering the location of 
Pittsburgh as a natural centre, as shown in the chapter on the cities' geographi- 
cal position, to the population of this great mass of the Union, it would be far 
from unsatisfactory, as showing her prosperity, if her population had increased 
in arithmetical proportions with that territory of which she is the centre; and 
jet more satisfactory if that increase of population was in corresponding ratios 
with that of the western and southern States, to which she has, in past years, 
looked for her markets, and to which she has access by her river transportation 
facilities. A brief comparison will exhibit Pittsburgh's vitality in this respect, 
and present in the most comprehensive and satisfactory form her growth. 

In 1800, as previously stated, the population of Pittsburgh was four- tenths 
of one per cent, of that of the West and South. 

To exhibit a steady growth with the population of the South and West, the 
ratio of four-tenths of one per cent, of that population is all that would be 
required to be maintained. In 1810 the population of the city was 4,786, or 
nine-twentieths of one per cent.; the ratio of four-tenths of one per cent, being 
only 4,300. In 1820 the population of the city was 7,248, being not quite three- 
tenths of one per cent.; the ratio of four-tenths requiring 10,164 inhabitants. At 
this period the business of the city was in a ruined condition in consequence of 
the reaction in the prices and activities of the war of 1812, under which Pitts- 
burgh had been very prosperous. In 1830 the maintaining of the ratio of four- 
tenths of one per cent, would require that Pittsburgh should have 13,324 
inhabitants; it had at that date 16,988, or over five-tenths of one per cent. In 
1840 the ratio of 1800 required a population of 20,692 ; there was 38,931, or 
fifteen-twentieths of one per cent. In 1850 the population of Pittsburgh was 
equal to nineteen-twentieths of one per cent, of that of the West and South, or 
79,873, while the maintainance of the ratio of four-tenths would demand but 
33,676. In 1860 the ratio of four-tenths of one per cent, required a population 
of 45,956, and there was 124,844, or one and nearly one-tenth per cent. In 1870, 
the community of Pittsburgh and Allegheny numbered 199,130, being one and 



76 Pittsburgh and Allegheny 

nearly four-tenths per cent, of the population of the West and South ; the ratio 
of 1800 only requiring 58,322 inhabitants, that being four-tenths of one per cent, 
of the then population of the southern and western States. 

Although the early growth of Pittsburgh was retarded by the cloud over the 
Penn title and the foreign tenure of Louisiana, yet from these figures it is 
apparent that Pittsburgh has not only increased in population in the same pro- 
portion that her market has, but has largely compounded on those ratios. 

From 1817 to 1825 the city was at a stand still, from effects produced by the 
termination of the war of 1812. In 1817 many factories stopped, and until 1821 
there was a continual downward tendency in all business and property. In 
1821 the distress appeared to have reached its height; manufactories, trade 
and industry were all prostrated. In May of that year the price of flour was 
one. dollar per barrel; boards were two dollars a thousand feet; whisky, fifteen 
cents a gallon; sheep and calves, one dollar per head. It required a bushel and 
a half of wheat to buy a pound of coffee, and twelve barrels of flour to purchase 
a yard of superfine broadcloth. 

In 1825 and 1826 the city began to rally, and in 1830 she was again prosper- 
ing. In 1837 she was with other cities retarded by the subsidence of the land 
speculation fever, and the panic. It will, however, be observed that notwith- 
standing these adverse years, that from 1820 to 1830 there was an increase equal 
to 135 per cent., or 13J per cent, a year; and that from 1830 to 1840 an increase 
of 129 per cent., or nearly 13 per cent, a year. 

From 1840 to 1850 the increase was equal to 105 per cent., or lOj per cent, 
a year. This increase was relatively more rapid than its percentage indicates, as 
twice the number of population was doubled in that decade to that which had 
been in the previous one. From 1850 to 1860 the increase was equal to only a 
little over 61 per cent., or 6 1-10 per cent, a year, although the actual increase in 
number of population was five thousand over that of the previous decade. The 
heavy population to be doubled upon producing a lessened percentage of increase, 
although the actual gain was, in whole numbers, greater. From 1860 to 1870 
the increase was equal to not quite sixty per cent., or a little less than six per 
cent, a year, although the actual numbers added to the population was sixty-five 
per cent, greater than in the decade from 1850 to 1860. This diminution of the 
percentage of the increase upon the whole number of the community in each 
decade, results not from diminished increase in numbers — yearly added — but 
from the greater magnitudes of the sum total of the cities' population, on which 
the percentages are computed, and could not be otherwise, unless under some 
unusual aggregation of fresh population. While, as in the last decade, the 
actual numbers added show so large a per cent, of gain over the numbers in- 
creased in the previous decade, it is apparent there is a rapid growth even under 
diminished percentages on the previous population totals. The monetary trou- 
bles of 1857, and the depressions of 1860-61, naturally checked the growth of 
the city, but as the results in 1870 show the effects were only temporary. 



In the Centennial Year, 77 

Statistics are almost prophetic in their relations to the future, and a study of 
them gives confidence in the deductions from their showings. Where the statis- 
tics of any given thing show the original ratios of increase to have been 
sustained and verified from decade to decade, there is good reason to have 
-confidence that where the same powers that have caused that increase still are 
operative, that what has been verified in the past will be continued in the 
future. 

The steady increase of the population of Pittsburgh during a period of seven 
decades, through the disasters of the peace of 1815, the bankruptcies of 1837, 
the great fire of 1845, the monetary troubles of 1842, the local panic of 1854^ 
the national panic of 1857, and the depressions of 1860-61, from the outbreak 
of the rebellion, indicate clearly that, although each decade depressing periods 
of business and stagnations of commerce similar to that of 18*73-4-5, have 
occurred, yet the city, as a whole, has continued to increase its population, and 
consequently its business, however individuals may have, in the wreck and crash 
of private fortunes and individual interests, sunk and been forgotten. 

Though the panic of 18Y3, and the prolonged business uncertainties of the 
past three years, have had their effect on the city's growth, it will be found in 
the future, as it has been in the past, that in a decade of years the ratios of 
growth will show no material disturbance. 

Pittsburgh's geographical position is unchanged; her railway system as com- 
prehensive as ever; her power of manufacturing as great, and is on the eve of 
obtaining yet greater force. Her position at the head of a grand system of 
inland navigation will receive new strength and importance during the present 
decade, in that permanent improvement of the navigation of the Ohio which is 
now on the eve of being begun. With the markets of the world opening to the 
manufactured products of the United States, under their ability, by their power 
to manufacture cheaply, to compete with and in European and Asiatic nations, 
Pittsburgh will grasp her share of this new volume of trade. In the obtaining 
of it, in addition to that of her old markets of the South and West, and to which 
she is in steel and iron, glass and other staples, rapidly adding that of the East, 
population will continue as heretofore to go hand in hand with her increasing 
production and sales. Where the statistics of the past so forcibly, through a 
period of seventy years, show the aggregate of population, it is reasonable to 
believe that the statistics of the popiflation of Pittsburgh in the eighth decade 
will repeat what they have shown in the past seven. Why should they not, when 
all and more of the power that has attracted population in the past still exists? 
Under the ratios of the past it is not presumptuous to believe that, in 1880, four 
years from now, the census will show Pittsburgh and Allegheny to have 240,000 
inhabitants, and over 300,000 in 1890. From 1850 to 1860, in which occurred 
two periods of depression of business, over 44,000 inhabitants were added to the 
population of the city. If from 1870 to 1880 only the same number should be 
added to what the census of 1870, six years since, showed, a population of over 



78 Pittsburgh and Allegheny 



240,000 will be reached. From 1860 to 1870 over 74,000 people were added ta 
the population. From 1880 to 1890, so far as human intelligence can see, prom- 
ises to be a prosperous decade for the United States. The effects of the panic of 
1873 are slowly wearing away. The finances of the nation are gradually adjust- 
ing on a fresh basis, remote from the inflations of the past. Capital is abundant,, 
and with the returning confidence, will become active from its own inherent 
necessity to be employed to preserve itself from decrease in its holders' hands. 
The manufactures of the United States are reaching beyond their own home 
markets for sale of their products, and with success ; and the horoscope of the 
decade of 1880-90, indicates enterprise, activity and development, — as full of 
progressive results to Pittsburgh, as the the period from 1863 to 1873. Within 
that period, as before stated, 74,000 people were added to the cities' population. 
If only the same number are added from 1880 to 1890, when there is every proba- 
bility that the conditions incident to growth will be as great, and greater, than 
in 1860 to 1870, a population much over 300,000 will be attained. Taking there- 
fore the actual ratios of increase of population for seventy years, as^ shown from 
the census during that space of time, and also the actual numbers of inhabitants 
gained in the two decades from 1850 to 1860 and from 1860 to 1870, and there 
seems no improbability that in 1880, as previously asserted, Pittsburgh will 
have a population of over 240,000 people, and more than 300,000 in 1890. In 
this increase of population, and the consequent business that will have attracted 
them, and increased by their presence, as well as have been increased by their 
enterprise, are there not possibilities for capital, merchants, skilled mechanics, 
industrious workmen, holders of real estate, worth thinking of? 



In the Centennial Year, 79 



CHAPTER VIL 



CLIMATE AND HEALTH OF PITTSBURGH. 



The climate of Pittsburgh has, no doubt, much to do with the healthfulness 
of the city, and its healthfulness much to do with its success as a manufacturing 
and commercial city. A healthful location is one of the primary conditions of 
a successful manufacturing community. Why, it is hardly necessary to discuss. 
It is apparent that strength, cheerfulness, and ability to perform unbroken labor 
are three of the conditions most requisite to render fully available the skill of 
the mechanic, or the sinews of the workman. The position of Pittsburgh is 
peculiarly a healthy one, situated seven hundred and fifty feet above the level 
of the ocean; nearly three hundred miles from its tide marshes; one hundred 
and eighty feet above the level of Lake Erie, and more than one hundred miles 
from its coast, the city is far enough removed from causes of disease origina- 
ting in the marshes of the coasts of such large bodies of water, and near enough 
to feel the beneficial effects of their moisture upon the atmosphere, without the 
injuriousness of the greater dampness in fogs and chilliness of a nearer location. 
Although nearly surrounded by hills more than four hundred feet in height, the 
valleys of the Allegheny and Ohio are open to free ventilation by the north-eas^ 
and north-west winds. The summer winds from the South which visit other 
western cities, from low and paludal grounds, here descend upon the town from 
a terrace of four hundred and fifty feet, after passing for a long distance over a 
well-drained, cultivated, broken and mountainous region, while the winds from 
the East and the South-East come sweeping down from the salubrious elevations 
of the Alleghenies filled with the purity of their atmosphere. 

The greatest heats usually occur in July, and the extreme cold in January. 
The winter does not generally set is with severity until the latter part of De- 
cember; and in the average of seasons, the moderate temperatures of spring- 
begin about the middle of February. Vegetation comes rapidly forward in the 
latter portion of March and April ; but there is almost invariably frost during- 
the first ten days of May; fires are not generally dispensed with, however, until 
the first of June. The autumn is a delicious season in this vicinity. From the 
first of September, when usually the nights and mornings become slightly cool, 
until the last of November, a period of delightful weather prevails, with a clear 
serene atmosphere — which acquires that peculiar hazy appearance, in October, 
usual to that pleasant season known as Indian summer. During the winter 
months the wind is generally from the north-west, and during rain storms and 



80 



Pittsburgh and Allegheny 



damp weather, from the north-east. In summer months the pleasant south- 
western winds prevail — changing to south-easterly currents during rains. 

The mean temperatures of each quarter, as shown by observations carefully 
made, are given in the following table : 

1856. 

Winter quarter, . . .21° above zero. 

Spring J' ... 46° '' 

Summer ^' . . . 71° " 

Autumn <' ... 51° '' 



1873. 


1874. 


31° above zero. 


36.43° above zero 


60° '' 


59.7° '' 


69.6° '^ 


70.9° '' 


43.4° '' 


42.8° '' 



The subjoined table presents 
for the two years of 1873-1874, a 



the mean temperatures, Fahr., of each month 
1 recorded by the United States Signal Officer : 





1873. 






1874. 




ab. zero 




ab. zero. 




ab. zero. 


ab. zero. 


January, 


. 29° 


'july, . . 


. 74° 


January, 


. 35.5° 


July,. . . 74.7° 


February, 


. . 29° 


August, 


. 71.9° 


February, 


. 34.5° 


August,. . 70.4° 


March, . . 


. 36° 


September, 


. 63.6° 


March . 


. 39.3° 


September, 67.6° 


April, . 


. 48° 


October, . 


. 57.3° 


April, . 


. 43.3° 


October, . 52.5° 


May, . 


. 31° 


November, 


. 35.8° 


May, . . 


. 61.9° 


November, . 40.9° 


June, . 


. 72° 


December, . 


. 37.1° 


June, 


. 73.9° 


December, . 35.2° 



If it were not for the coal smoke, which is to strangers more objectionable 
than natives, there is not a pleasanter location [in the United States. The 
scenery, which along the three rivers is highly romantic and picturesque in its 
character, is deversified by plain, mountain and valley; and a walk of fifteen 
minutes from the business centre of the city will bring the pedestrian out upon 
high table ground from two to three hundred feet above the level of the business 
portion of the city and clear of its smoke, while, as stated in the chapter in 
which Pen Pictures of Pittsburgh are given, there are sections of the city alto- 
gether as free from the annoyance of smoke as any city in the Union. This 
smoke, however, according to the report of Dr. Meyers, formerly physician to the 
Marine Hospital in this city, is from the carbon, sulphur and iodine contained 
in it, highly favorable to lung and cutaneous diseases. The smoke is also anti- 
miasmatic, hence the few cases of remittent and intermittent fever. 

Dr. Wm. H. Denny says: "Strangers with weak lungs for a while find their 
lungs aggravated by the smoke; but, nevertheless, asthmatic patients have 
found relief in breathing it. In this account, coal is our creditor ; in another 
way its abundance, cheapness and consequent general and profuse use by the 
poorest inhabitants, is undoubtedly the cause of our superior healthfulness. 
The low fevers so prevalent in the large cities among the poor during a hard 
winter, and the ague and fever so common in the eastern countries where wood 
is scarce, are here in a measure prevented by the universal practice of keeping 
good coal fires late in the spring and early in the autumn, and indeed at all sea- 
sons when the weather is damp or inclement." 



a 

HI 

» 
Q 







iii, 



iiii 



Iii ■*'ii 



■lilf 




% 



o 
o 



In the Centennial Year. 



81 



Says the same authority we have just quoted: ''Of all the great western 
towns, Pittsburgh is the farthest removed from the baneful exhalations of the 
swampy borders of the Mississippi, and accordingly enjoys a greater exemption 
from those diseases which, during the summer and autumn months, prevail even 
as high as Cincinnati. -J^- ^ -5^ Dropsies, dysenteries, diarrhoeas and cholera 
diseases which are influenced by causes of a malarious origin, have never prevailed 
to any extent. * * ^ In comparison with eastern cities, there is much less 
pulmonary consumption, less scrofula, and less disease of the skin. There is 
scarcely any fever and ague, and no yellow fever. In comparison with western 
cities, including Cincinnati, there is less bilious fever, less fever and ague, less 
cholera infantum, and far less malignant cholera. We are the intermediate link 
of disease as well as of commerce. We have less hepatic disease than the West, 
and less pulmonic disease than the East " 

Upon this point of pulmonic diseases, the statement of Dr. Meyers and of 
Dr. Denny as to the effects of the smoke, is supported by the following state- 
ment of Dr. Snively, physician of the Pittsburgh Board of Health, who, in his 
report for 1873, says: "Statistics for 1873 prove that, with the exception of 
St. Louis and Cleveland, the death rate from consumption is decidedly lower in 
Pittsburgh than in other cities of a large size. "^ "^ "^ ^ -^ Pittsburgh with 
its smoky atmosphere, combined with a variety of supposed impurities, justly 
ranks in this particular as one of the most salubrious cities of the United States." 

The following table exhibits the percentage of deaths from this disease to 
the total mortality, and the annual death rate therefrom, in comparison with 
eight cities : 



City. 


Population. 


Yearly 
deaths. 


From con- 
snmpticto 


Per cent, 
on total 
morlality. 


Annual per 
cent, per 1,000 
consumption. 


Pittsburgh, . . . 


133,000* 


3,519 


326 


9.26 


2.45 


New York, . . . 


. 1,000,000 


29,084 


4,134 


14.22 


4.13 


Philadelphia, . . 


750,000 


16,776 


2,290 


13.65 


3.05 


Brooklyn. . . . 


435,000 


10,968 


1,376 


12.55 


3.16 


New Orleans. . . 


200,000 


7,505 


639 


11.33 


4.25 


Cincinnati, . . . 


246,938 


5,641 


657 


11.64 


2.66 


Boston, .... 


275,000 


7,869 


1,089 


13.84 


3.96 


Baltimore, . . . 


302,000 


7,588 


1,108 


14.60 


3.67 


San Francisco, . . 


188,000 


3,641 


514 


14.12 


2.74 



This table is given rather to substantiate the statements of the physicians 
quoted, and to show that the smoky atmosphere of Pittsburgh is, even in a dis- 
ease where it might be, naturally supposed to be injurious, not prejudicial to 
health, than to give the impression that the city is a desirable retreat for persons 
whose lungs are affected. There is no doubt Pittsburgh is a remarkably healthy 
city, and no part of the United States is better suited to European constitution. 



*Only Pittsburgh city proper. 
6 



82 Pittsburgh and Allegheny 



CHAPTER VIII 



BOAT BUILDING OF PITTSBURGH. 



In February, 1756, one John McKinney who was taken prisoner by the Indians 
and imprisoned in Fort Duquesne, after being carried to Canada, from whence 
he made his escape to Philadelphia, gives the following incident in his des- 
cription of the Fort. "While he was at Fort Duquesne, there came up the Ohio 
from the Mississippi, about thirty batteaux, and about one hundred and fifty men, 
loadened with pork, flour, brandy, peas, and Indian corn ; they were three months 
in coming to Fort Duquesne, and came all the way up the falls without unload- 
ing." 

This is the first account, one hundred and twenty years ago, of the carrying 
trade to Pittsburgh. 

A diary kept by one James Kenny, who was a trader at Fort Pitt in 1Y61, 
three years after it was built on the ruins of Fort Duquesne, and one hundred 
and five years ago, gives the following, which we copy from the Historical Maga- 
zine for September, 1858 : 

" 1761, 4th mo : 4th. — A young man called Wm. Ramsey, has made two little 
boats, being squair at ye sterns, and joined together at ye sterns by a swivel, 
make ye two in form of one boate, but will turn round shorter than a boat of ye 
same length, or raise with more safety in falls and in case of striking rocks ; he 
has also made an engine that goes with wheels enclosed in a box, to be worked 
by one man, by sitting on ye end of ye box, and tredding on treddles at bottom 
with his feet, sets ye wheels agoing, which work scullers or short paddles fixed 
over ye gunnels turning them round ; ye under ones always laying hold in ye 
water, will make ye boate goe as if two men rowed ; and he can steer at ye same 
time by lines like plow lines." 

This is, perhaps, one of those first germs of the steamboat that suggest the 
familiar quotation, " coming events cast their shadows before them ; " and render 
it a subject of so much controversy as to when and by whom the first initial 
idea of a steamboat was conceived. 

This was twenty-five years before either James Ramsey, of Berkley county, 
Virginia, succeeded in propelling his ^^ flying boat,^^ as it was called by the people 
against the current of the Potomac at Shepherdstown, by steam alone, at the 
rate of four or five miles an hour ; and also twenty years before Fitch, in 1780, 
accidently meeting Ramsey in Winchester, imparted to him his idea of propell- 
ing boats by steam. ^ 



* This statement as to Ramsey obtaining his idea from Fitch, is on authority of Hon. Robert 
Wickliffe, vol. 1, page 36, American Pioneer. 



In the Centennial Year. 83 

We know, nor hear, nothing more of the young man Wm. Ramsey, with his 
two little boats ''joined together at ye sterns;" and he rests another of those 
whose minds illuminated by the first spark of an invention brought to practical use 
by others in after years, either from want of means, actual ability to work out 
their crude idea into full conception, or want of appreciation of the value of 
their own thought, progress no further than the first rude attempt to give shape 
to their thought. The thought naturally occurs here that if the young man had 
persevered with his idea, Pittsburgh was near, perhaps, to being the scene of the 
first attempts in America to construct steamboats. Ramsey's first idea being to 
propel boats with poles moved by machinery. 

The city was, however, the location of the first full practical efi^ort at steam- 
boat construction, in the building at Pittsburgh of the '-New Orleans,'' by 
Messrs. Fulton, Livingston & Rosewalt in 1811 ; four years after Fulton made 
his first convincing experiment, in 180Y, of propelling a boat at the desired 
velocity by steam. 

The steamboat having had so important a place in the growth of the business 
of Pittsburgh, and the developments of the West ; a limited space may be pro- 
perly spared, and a digression allowed from the real topic of this chapter to 
briefly present some facts as to the invention of steamboats. 

From a work published about forty years since in Spain, of original papers re- 
lating to the voyage of Columbus, preserved in the royal archives at Samancas, 
and those of the Secretary of War of Spain, in 1543, it is stated, '^ that Blasco 
de Garay, a sea captain, exhibited to Charles V, in the year 1543, an engine by 
which vessels of the largest size could be propelled, even in a calm, without 
oars or sails. The Emperor decided that an experiment should be made, which 
was successfully attempted on June 17, 1543, in the harbor of Barcelona. The 
experiment was on a ship of 209 tons, called the " Trinity." Garay never pub- 
licly exposed the construction of his engine, but it was observed at the time of 
his experiment, that it consisted of a large cauldron of boiling water, and a mov- 
able wheel attached to each side of the ship." The statement says further : 
•'The Emperor and Prince, and others with them, applauded the engine, and es- 
pecially the expertness with which the ship could be tacked. The Treasurer 
Ravago, an enemy to the project, said, ' it would move two leagues in three 
hours;' it was very complicated and expensive, and exposed to the constant 
danger of bursting the boiler." 

It is claimed that this account is fictitious, the offspring of some individual 
jealous for his country's reputation, as the date is fifty-four years before the 
birth of the Marquis of Worcester, who is given by history the credit of being 
the original inventor of the steam engine. From this statement it would 
appear that DeGaray not only originated the steam engine, but made at the 
same time its application in one of its most practical and beneficial forms, and 
at a single effort accomplished what took the light and talent of several genera- 
tions to invent and bring to practical shape. 



84 Pittsburgh and Allegheny 

A treatise was printed in London in 1737, describing a machine invented by 
Jonathan Hulls, for carrying vessels against wind and tide, fo» which George II 
granted a patent for fourteen years. A drawing is prefixed to the treatise show- 
ing a boat with chimney smoking, a pair of wheels rigged over eacli side of the 
stern. From the stern of the boat a tow-line passes to the foremast of a two 
decker, which the boat thus tows. This is evidently the first idea of a steam 
tow boat. 

The experiment of James Ramsey, before mentioned, is the next in order of 
which there is reliable record. In October, 1874, he obtained from the Legisla- 
ture of Virginia, an act guaranteeing him the exclusive use of his invention in 
navigating the waters of that State for ten years. Ramsey's boat was fifty feet 
in length, and was propelled by a pump which forced a quantity of water up 
through the keel and out through the stern, through a pipe a few inches square. 
The impetus of this water acting against the exterior water producing the pro- 
pelling power. The boiler held only five gallons of water, and needed only a 
pint at a time.^ Ramsey had another project, which was to apply the power of a 
steam engine to long poles, which were to reach to the bottom of the river, 
and so push a boat. Ramsey, after the experiment before alluded to, went to 
England, and through many discouragements, struggled on until he had con- 
structed a boat of one hundred tons, and pushed his machinery so near to 
completion, as to be able to indicate a day for a public exhibition. Death, how- 
ever, put an end to his career in Liverpool, and under touching circumstances. 
He had consented to give a lecture in exposition of his plan, so as to enlist 
patronage from, the public. When the evening came the hall was filled with 
the learning, fashion and beauty of Liverpool. He was overwhelmed with this 
evidence of interest, and saw his most ardent hopes on the eve of accomplish- 
ment. He arose to begin his lecture in great agitation. A glass of water was 
handed him; he returned his thanks in a few incoherent sentences, sank into 
his chair, and never spoke again. The boat he had nearly completed was set in 
motion after his death, on the Thames, in 1793. It is proper to quote here 
a fitting tribute paid to his memory by the Congress of the United States on 
February 9, 1839, when it was unanimously 

'' Resolved, That the President be, and he is hereby required to present to 
James Ramsey, Jr., the son and only surviving child of James Ramsey, deceased, 
a suitable gold medal commemorative of his father's services and high agency in 
giving the world the benefit of the steamboat." 

In 1780 the Marquis de Jouffrey worked a steamboat 140 feet long on the 
Seine. 

In 1785 both Ramsey and Fitch had exhibited models to Gen'l Washington, 
and on March 15, 1785, Washington, in a letter to Hugh Williamson, certifies 
that his doubts are satisfied, after witnessing Ramsey's experiment before men- 



* Stuart's Anecdotes of Steam Engines — [English Publication.] 



In Die Centennial Year, 85 

tioned. As previously stated, it is claimed that Ramsey got his idea from John 
Fitch, who made many efforts to have his invention tried. He applied to Con- 
gress and was refused, just as was nearly the fate of Morse with his telegragh. 
He offered his invention to the Spanish government, for the purpose of navigating 
the Mississippi, without better success; but at length obtained the funds for the 
building of a boat, and in 1788 his vessel was launched on the Delaware. Fitch 
used oars worked in frames. After many experiments. Fitch abandoned his in- 
vention, having satisfied himself of its practicability, being embarrassed with 
debt. In his autobiography he says, " I know nothing so perplexing and vexa- 
tious to a man of feeling as a turbulent wife and steamboat building. I exper- 
ienced the former, and quit in season ; and had I been in my right senses I should 
undoubtedly have treated the latter in the same manner. But for one man to be 
teased with both he must be looked upon as the most unfortunate man of this 
world" 

He died in 1799, at Bardstown, Kentucky, and was buried near the Ohio. 
Previous to leaving the East, he wrote three volumes, which he deposited in 
manuscript, sealed up, in the Philadelphia Library, to be opened thirty years 
after his death. These volumes were opened in 1833, and in them he confident- 
ly predicts the success of his plan. He prophesies that in less than a century, 
the western rivers will be swarming with steamboats, and expresses a desire to 
be buried on the banks of the Ohio, "where the music of the steam engine may 
soothe his spirit, and the song of the boatmen enliven the stillness of his resting 
place." 

How full of disappointed hope is this sentence from his journal, "The day 
will come when some more powerful man will get fame and riches from my in- 
vention ! but nobody will believe that poor John Fitch can do anything worth)- 
of attention." 

In 1787, after Fitch's experiment, a Mr. Symington succeeded in propelling a 
steamboat on the Clyde in Scotland. In 1797 John Stevens, of Hoboken, be- 
gan his experiments and succeeded in propelling boats at the rate of five or six 
miles an hour. In 1797 Chancellor Livingston built a boat on the Hudson, and 
applied to the Legislature for the exclusive privilege. This was granted on con- 
that he should propel a vessel by steam, within a year, three miles an hour ; but 
dition Livingston, unable to comply with this condition, dropped his project for 
a time. He afterwards associated himself with Stevens, and aided by Nicholas 
Rosevelt, carried on the experiments until he (Livingston) was sent to France as 
Minister. Mr. Stevens continued his experiments for several years, when Mr. 
Livingston having attained a renewal of the exclusive grant from the State of 
New York, he, with the assistance of his son, applied himself with greater atten- 
tion to the project, and in 1807, only a few days after Fulton's convincing experi- 
ment succeeded in propelling a steamboat at the required velocity of three miles 
an hour. Fulton, it is said, had in 1803 made a successful trial on the Seine with 
a boat that moved at the rate of four miles an hour. 



86 Pittsburgh and Allegheny 



About 1802-3, Oliver Evans of Philadelphia, built on the Mississippi a boat 
to ply between New Orleans and Natchez. When the boat was ready it was left 
high and dry by the falling water, and the engine was placed temporarily in a 
saw mill. The mill was burned by some incendiaries ; whom it was likely to 
deprive of a profitable job of sawing lumber, and thus an attempt to establish 
steamboats on the Mississippi was defeated some four years before Fulton's 
experiment. 

All these efforts seem to have been preliminary experiments ; to Fulton really 
belongs the credit of bringing to practical results the steamboat, in the construc- 
tion in 1810-11, by himself, Livingston and Rosewalt, of the "New Orleans" at 
Pittsburgh. 

But to return to the date of 1756, at which we have in the opening sentence 
of this chapter mentioned Pittsburgh's earliest connection with the carrying trade 
of the western rivers. 

From the date of 1756, up to 1776, there is nothing necessary to j-ecord, show- 
ing progress in the carrying trade of the western rivers, as connected with Pitts- 
burgh. 

In 1776 Messrs. Gibson and Linn, the grand-father of Dr. Linn, formerly a sena- 
tor in Congress from Missouri, descended by water from Pittsburgh to New Orleans, 
to procure military stores for the troops stationed at the former place. They 
completely succeeded in their hazardous enterprise, and brought back a cargo of 
136 kegs of gun powder. On reaching the falls of the Ohio on their return, in 
the Spring of 1777, they were obliged to unload their boats, and carry the cargo 
round the rapids, each of their men carrying three kegs at a time on his back. 
The powder was delivered at Wheeling, and afterwards transported to Fort Pitt. 
The 23d of February, 1777, is worthy of mention, as the date at which, it 
may fairly be said, commenced that important branch of the business of Pitts- 
burgh — boat building. On that day " fourteen carpenters and sawyers arrived 
at Fort Pitt from Philadelphia, and were set at work on the Monongahela, four- 
teen miles above the fort, near a saw mill. They built 30 large batteaux, forty 
feet long, nine feet wide, and thirty-two inches deep, which were intended to 
transport troops." 

The contrast between the era of keel boats one hundred years ago, when, in 
1776, Messrs. Gibson and Linn brought their cargo of gunpowder from New 
Orleans, and that of the steamboat of to-day, is extreme. 

Could the ashes of one of those hardy boatmen, which mingle with the dust 
on the margin of the western rivers, become again a living man, the transition 
between now and then would be to him accountable only by magic. 

One hundred years ago, while the sturdy crew were propelling their boat to 
its destination, the community they left, and that to which they were proceeding, 
might have been destroyed, and the tenants of the solitary boat, struggling up 
the currents of the river, remain ignorant of the event until they arrived at the 
end of their route. Now the traveler upon the western waters may daily, and 



In the Centennial Year. 87 

frequently more often, while the steamer is tarrying at way side ports, converse 
with friends three thousand miles away, and learn the successes or misfortunes 
fellow men ; not only in the wide territory through which run the waters of his 
over which he is traveling, but in the far off nations of the earth. 

The position that Pittsburgh occupies as the point where was constructed, 
and whence departed the first steamboat that navigated the western waters, 
gives her an historical prominence in connection with the invention of steam- 
boats, and has enabled her to attain and preserve an equal prominence in the 
boat building business of the West. 

From 17Y6, for a period of twenty years, the commerce of the Ohio and the 
Mississippi was carried on in keel-boats and flat-boats. In July of the year 1Y94, 
on the 22d of April of which year Pittsburgh was incorporated as a borough, a 
line of mail boats was established to run from Wheeling to Limetown, and back, 
once in every two weeks, the mails being carried from Wheeling to Pittsburgh, 
and back, on horseback. These boats ''were twenty-four feet long, built like a 
whale-boat, and steered with a rudder. They were manned by a steersman and 
four oarsmen to each boat. The men had each a musket and a supply of ammu- 
nition, all of which were snugly secured from the weather in boxes alongside 
their seats." 

The same year there was started a line of boats from Cincinnati and Pitts- 
burgh, in relation to which we quote from an advertisement in ''The Centinel of 
the Northwestern Territory," published at Cincinnati under date of January 11, 
1794. The advertisement states: "Two boats for the present will start from 
Cincinnati for Pittsburgh^ and return to Cincinnati in the following manner, viz : 
First boat will leave Cincinnati this morning at eight o'clock; and return to 
Cincinnati, so as to be ready to sail again in four weeks. The second boat will 
leave Cincinnati on Saturday, the 30th inst., and return to Cincinnati in four 
weeks as above. And so regularly, each boat performing the voyage to and from 
Cincinnati and Pittsburgh, once in every four weeks. 

"Two boats in addition to the above will shortly be completed, and regulated 
in such a manner that one boat of the four will set out weekly from Cincinnati 
to Pittsburgh, and return in a like manner. 

"The proprietor of these boats having maturely considered the many incon- 
veniences and dangers incident to the common method hitherto adopted of 
navigating the Ohio, and being influenced by a love of philanthropy, and a desire 
of being serviceable to the public, has taken great pains to render the accom- 
modations on board the boats as agreeable and convenient as they could possibly 
be made. 

"No danger need be apprehended from the enemy, as every person on board 
will be under cover, made proof against rifle or musket balls, and convenient 
port holes for firing out of. Each of the boats is armed with six pieces, carrying 
a pound ball ; also a number of good muskets, and amply supplied with plenty 



88 Pittsburgh and Allegheny 

of ammunition, strongly manned with choice hands, and the masters of approved 
knowledge. 

"A separate cabin from that designed for the men is partitioned off in each 
boat for accommodating ladies on their passage. Conveniences are constructed 
on board each boat so as to render landing unnecessary, as it might at times be 
attended with danger." 

The advertisement further states that '' Passengers are supplied with provi- 
sions, and liquors of all kinds of the first quality, at the most reasonable rates 
possible." 

Travelers are referred to cards of rates, to be seen on board the boats and at 
the printing office at Cincinnati, for price of passage, &c. 

The next event in boat building here, which shows the progress at this point, 
was the construction of the armed galleys. President Adams and Senator Ross. 

In relation to these, we quote from an extract of a letter from Major Craig, 
dated May, 1798, which is printed in Craig's History of Pittsburgh. 

''On the 19th instant the galley President Adams was launched, and is now at 
anchor in the Allegheny. She will be completely equipped in a few days, and 
will, I am confident, be as fine a vessel of her burden and construction as the 
United States possesses." 

'' The keel of the second galley is laid and other materials prepared." 
Of this second galley, a letter quoted in the same work above referred to, 
remarks: ''The galley Senator Ross has been launched, and is now rigged, and 
will, in a few days, be fully equipped for the Mississippi. 

"She is anchored in the Monongahela abreast of the town. She is certainly 
a fine piece of naval architecture, and one which will far exceed anything which 
the Spaniards can show on the Mississippi." 

These national vessels were the first sea-going boats which were constructed 
on the Ohio — although the brig of 120 tons burden, called the St. Clair, was 
built at Marietta, by Commodore Preble, in 1798-99. 

From 1802 to 1805 the business of building sea-going vessels seems to have 
been flourishing here, as in a short period there were constructed the ships Pitts- 
burgh, Louisiana, General Butler and Western Trader; the brigs Nanina, Dean 
and Black Warrior; schooners Amity, Allegheny and Conquest. The ship Monon- 
gahela Farmer and brig Ann Jean, were built during the same period at Elizabeth- 
town, on the Monongahela river. The subsequent career of these vessels, and 
the adventures therein of those who sailed them, would, without doubt, form a 
pleasant chapter, but there are no records of their voyages ; only a semi-tradition 
that a ship arriving at an East Indian port was, whon visited by the Custom 
House officer, in danger of confiscation, because the officer did not know, or 
would not believe there was such a port of ent^y as Pittsburgh, from whence, 
according to her papers, she cleared. 

[This probably grows out of a statement made on the floor of Congress by 
Hon. Henry Clay: "To illustrate," he said, "the commercial habits and enterprise 



In the Centennial Year. 89 

of the American people, he would relate an anecdote of a vessel built and 
cleared out at Pittsburgh for Leghorn. When she arrived at her place of desti- 
nation, the master presented his papers to the Custom House officer, who said to 
him, ' Sir, your papers are forged ; there is no such port as Pittsburgh in the 
world, — your vessel must be confiscated.' The captain laid before the officer a 
map of the United States, directed him to the Gulf of Mexico, pointed out the 
mouth of the Mississippi, led him a thousand miles up to the mouth of the Ohio, 
and thence another thousand up it to Pittsburgh. ^ There, sir, is the point from 
whence my vessel cleared out.' The astonished officer before he had seen the 
map, would as readily have believed this vessel had been navigated from the 
moon."] 

The building of sea- going vessels was established at Pittsburgh by a French 
gentleman, Louis Antistasius Tarascon, who emigrated from France in 1794, 
established himself in Philadelphia as a merchant. In 1799 he sent two of his 
clerks, Charles Brugiere and James Berthoud, to examine the course of the Ohio 
and Mississippi from Pittsburgh to New Orleans, and ascertain the practicability 
of sending ships, and clearing them ready rigged from Pittsburgh to Europe and 
the West Indies. The two gentlemen reported favorably, and Mr. Tarascon 
associated them, and his brother, John Anthony, with himself, under the firm of 
''John A. Tarascon Brothers, James Berthoud & Co., and immediately established 
at Pittsburgh a large wholesale and retail store and warehouse, a ship yard, a 
rigging and sail loft, and anchor smithshop, a block manufactory, and all other 
things necessary to complete sea-going vessels. The first year, 1801, the}^ built 
the schooner Amity of 120 tons, and the ship Pittsburgh of 250 tons, and sent 
the former, loaded with flour, to St. Thomas, and the other, also loaded with 
flour, to Philadelphia, from whence they sent them to Bordeaux, France, and. 
brought back a cargo of wine, brandy and other French goods, part of which 
they sent to Pittsburgh in wagons at a carriage of from six to eight cents a 
pound. In 1802 they built the brig Nanina, 250 tons, in 1803 the ship Louisiana 
of 300 tons, and in 1804 the ship Western Trader of 400 tons. The schooner 
Monongahela Farmer, was built at Elizabeth, by a company of ship carpenters, 
who were brought out in 1787, from Philadelphia, by Colonel Stephen Bayard. 
She was owned by the builders and farmers of the neighborhood, who loaded 
her with a cargo of flour, and sent her via New Orleans to New York. The brig 
Ann Jane was built in 1803, at Elizabeth, for the Messrs. McFarlane, merchants, 
and was of 450 tons burden. She was loaded with flour and whisky, and sailed 
to New York. This brig was one of the fastest sailers of her day, and was run 
for some time as a packet to New Orleans from New York. 

In connection with this exhibit of the successful construction of sea-going 
vessels at Pittsburgh, it is proper to direct attention to what is said in another 
chapter in relation to the adaptability of Pittsburgh as a naval depot, and also 
to the great importance of the improvement of the Ohio river as opening up 
avenues of wealth and the development of the resources of the country. 



90 Pittsburgh ana Allegheny 



The year 1811 was an important one in the history of Pittsburgh. In that 
year was built the first steamboat for the navigation of the western waters. The 
construction of this boat was the first step to the fulfillment of a prediction 
made by John Fitch, quoted in a preceding paragraph of this chapter. 

The boat whose steam engine was the first to soothe the spirit of ^^poor John 
Fitch^^^ was the "New Orleans." This boat, as before observed, was built at Pitts- 
burgh in 1811. She was 138 feet keel, and between 300 and 400 tons burden; 
her cabin was in the hold, and she had port holes; also a bowsprit eight feet in 
length, in ocean steamer style, which was painted sky blue. She was owned by 
Messrs. Fulton, Livingston and Rosewalt, and her construction was superin- 
tended by^the latter gentleman. Her cost was $40,000. She was launched in 
March, and descended the river, to Natchez, in December, at which point she 
took in her first freight and passengers, and from tlftnce proceeded to New 
Orleans on the 24th of the same month. She continued to ply between New 
Orleans and Natchez until 1814, making the round trip in ten days, conveying 
passengers at the rate of |25 up and $18 down. On her first year's business she 
cleared $20,000 net. In the winter of 1814 she was snagged and lost near Baton 
Rouge. While this boat was constructing, Mr. Fulton traveled across the moun- 
tains in company with some gentlemen from Kentucky, who were highly amused 
with the apparent extravagance of his expectations ; and although entertaining 
a high respect for his genius, yet in the course of the journey, which- occupied 
several days, they jested somewhat upon the probable achievements of steam. 
This freedom gave rise to a prediction by Fulton, which it is apposite to mention 
here. '^In the course of some conversation on the almost impassable nature of 
the mountains over which they were dragged with great toil, upon roads scarcely 
practicable for wheels, Mr. Fulton remarked: 'The day will come, gentlemen, I 
may not live to see it, but some of you who are younger probably will, when car- 
riages will be drawn over these mountains by steam engines, at a rate more rapid 
than that of a stage coach upon the smoothest turnpike.'" The then apparently 
absurdness of this prediction excited great laughter. The predictions of Fitch 
and of Fulton are fulfilled. As late as 1816, the practicability of the navigation 
of the Ohio by steamboats was doubted. A writer in the Western Monthly Maga- 
zine states that, in 1816, he formed one of a company of gentlemen who, watching 
the long continued efforts of a stern-wheel boat to ascend the Horsetail ripple, 
five miles below Pittsburgh, came to the unanimous conclusion that such "a 
contrivance might do for the Mississippi as high as Natchez, but that ''We of the 
Ohio must wait for some more happy century of inventions. 

Recurring back to 1810, we find in '-'■ Cramer' 8 Magazine Almanack^^ for that 
year, the following : 

"A company has been formed for the purpose of navigating the ri^ or Ohio in 
large boats, to be propelled by the power of steam engines. The boat now on 
the stocks is 138 feet keel, and calculated for a freight as well as a passage boat 
between Pittsburgh and the Falls of the Ohio." 



In the Centennial Year, 91 



The boat here alluded to was the one afterwards known as the "New 
Orleans.'" The subsequent career of this boat we have mentioned. The forma- 
tion of companies for the construction of boats at Pittsburgh for particular 
rivers, appears to have been the popular shape which this branch of business 
took in 1810, 1811 and 1812. In the publications of the day several such 
companies are announced. Cramer's Magazine Almanack mentions in 1811 the 
"Mississippi Steam Boat Co.," and that "another company had been formed for 
the Ohio river." The history of some of those earlier boats we shall briefly 
record. 

The second boat constructed at Pittsburgh appears to have been the " Comet," 
of twenty-fire tons, built by D. French, for Samuel Smith, in 1812-13. She 
had a stern-wheel and a vibrating c^^linder. She made one trip to Louisville in 
1813 ; descended to New Orleans in 1814, made two trips to Natchez, and was 
sold, and the engine put up in a cotton-gin. 

The "Vesuvius" and the "^^tna," of 340 tons each, were built by the ^'Missis- 
sippi Steam Boat Co." in 1813-14. The "Vesuvius,'" under the command of 
Captain Ogden, left Pittsburgh in the spring of 1814 for New Orleans; in July, 
1816, she was burnt near New Orleans. The "J^tna," under command of Captain 
Gale, started for New Orleans in March, 1815; and after reaching that point, 
went into the Natchez trade. She was in continual employ until 1822, when 
she was condemned as worn out. 

The "Enterprise," fort}- five tons, was the fourth constructed in this Adcinity 
She was built at Brownsville, Pa., and made two trips to Louisville in 1814. She 
departed from Pittsburgh for New Orleans on the 1st of December, 1814, under 
command of Captain Henry M. Shreve, with a cargo of ordnance. For some 
time she was actively employed transporting troops. On the 6th of May, 181-7, 
she left New Orleans for Pittsburgh, and arrived at Shippingport (Louisville) on 
the 30th, being twenty-five (iays from port to port, and the first steamer that ever 
arrived at that port from New Orleans; which event the citizens of Louisville 
celebrated by a dinner to Captain Shreve. The "Enterprise" was lost at Rock 
Harbor in 1817. 

In 1816 the "Franklin," 125 tons, the "Oliver Evans," 75 tons, and the 
"Harriet," of 40 tons, were built at Pittsburgh. The "Franklin" was built by 
Messrs. Shiras and Cromwell, and her engine was built by George Evans. She 
departed from Pittsburgh in December. 1816, and went into the Louisville and St. 
Louis trade. She was sunk in 1819, near St. Genevieve. The "Oliver Evans" 
was built by George Evans; left Pittsburgh December, 1816, for New Orleans. 
She burst one of her boilers in April, 1817, at Point Coupee, killing eleven men. 
The "Harriet" was constructed and owned by Mr. Armstrong, of Williams- 
port, Pa. 

The "Washington," 400 tons, built at Wheeling about this time, had her en- 
gines made at Brownsville. She was the first boat with boilers above deck — the 
boats previous to that having them in the hold. She, also, by making a round 



92 Pittsburgh and Allegheny 

trip from Louisville to New Orleans, settled the question whether steamboats 
could be rendered useful as a mode of navigation for the ascending trade, and 
convinced the public, which had continued doubtful, of the praclicability and 
success of steamboat navigation on the western waters. She was in part owned 
by Captain Henry M. Shreve, and was built under his immediate direction. 

A small boat called the "Pike," was built at Hendersonville, Kentucky, in 
1816. 

The ''General Pike," constructed at Cincinnati in 1818, was the first boat built 
for the exclusive accommodation of passengers. Her cabin was forty feet long 
and twenty-five feet wide. In addition she had fourteen staterooms. 

The "Expedition," 120 tons, and the "Independent," of 50 tons, were con- 
structed at Pittsburgh in 1818, for the Yellow Stone Expedition for the explora- 
tion of the Missouri. The "Independence" was the first steamboat that ascended 
the Missouri. 

The "Western Engineer," built in 1819, near Pittsburgh, under the direction 
of Major S. H. Long, of the United States Topographical Engineers, for the expe- 
dition of discovery to the sources of the Missouri and Rocky Mountains, was the 
first boat that ascended to Council Bluffs, 650 miles above St. Louis. 

In the first years of boat building the progress was slow, and many difficulties 
impeded the rapid advance of steam navigation. We have given some of the 
}>articulars connected with the building of the earlier boats, as illustrative of 
the progress and the spirit of the business. 

From 1817, when the success of steamboat navigation on the western rivers 
was finally conceded by the public — convinced by the trips of the Washington 
from Louisville to New Orleans and back in forty-five days — boat building rapidly 
increased. 

In 1818 there were employed on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, twenty-two 
steamboats, averaging nearly 230 tons each. In 1818 there were building at 
different locations on the Ohio, twenty-three boats, of which number — 

9 were constructing at Pittsburgh, 2 were constructing at Wheeling, 



o 



a 



" Cincinnati, 1 was " " Corydon, 

5 " " ." Louisville, 1 " " " Limestone. 

In 1835 there was published an official table showing the entire number of 
boats built at all the points on the Ohio river from 1811 to 1835 — giving their 
names — the year of their construction — the location where built, and their fate; 
whether sunk, burned, or condemned and broken up. This table, which occupies 
several pages, we find in Hall's Western Notes, published in 1838, and condense 
from it the boats built at Pittsburgh and vicinity, omitting the details of their 
after career, which, however interesting, our space will not admit of. 



In the Centennial Year, 



93 



TABLE 
Showing the Names of Boats Constructed at Pittsburgh from 1811 to 1835: 



Boats aud when built. 



^lua 1814 

Allegheny 1818 

America 1826 

American 1824 

Allegheny 1830 

Abeuua 1830 

Argus 1831 

Antelope l'83l 

Aid 1834 

Alert 1835 

A Igonquin 1 835 

Arabian 1835 

Adventure 1835 

Buffalo 1814 

Balise Packet..l819 

Bolivar 1825 

Baltimore 1828 

Boston 1831 

Baltic 1831 

Boon's Lick 1833 

Big Black 1835 

Comet 1812 

Car ot Com'rce 1819 
Cumberland ...1819 

Columbus, 1826 

Commerce 1826 

Cumberland ...1828 

•Caroline 1828 

Citizen 1829 

Cora .1829 

Corsair 1829 

Carrolton 1831 

Columbus 1831 

Courier 1831 

Choctaw 1831 

Chief Justire ) -.nqo 
Marshall, J ^^"^"^ 

Chester 1832 

Chicasaw 1832 

Cayuga 1833 



Boats and when built. 



Commerce 1834 

Clairborne 1834 

Dolphin 1819 

De\VittClintonl82() 

Delaware 1828 

Dove 1831 

Despatch 1832 

Detroit 18o5 

Dover 1835 

Dayton 183^. 

Expedition 1818 

Eclipse 1823 

Echo 1826 

Erie 1826 

Essex 1827 

Enterprise 183o 

Eagle 1830 

Franklin 1817 

Florida 1826 

Favorite 1822 

Friendship 1825 

Fame 1826 

Free Trader.... 1832 

Fame.,...., 1832 

Farmer 1833 

Flora 1835 

Geo. Madison,. .1817 
Gen. Jackson. .1817 
Gen. I^eville...l822 
Gen. Brown.. ..1825 
Gen. Wayne. ..1825 

Gen. Scott 1825 

Gen. Coflee 1826 

Gondola 1830 

Gleaner 1830 

Gazelle.. 1832 

Galiman 1834 

Herald 1824 

Eercules 1826 

Huntsville 1829 



Boats and whenibuilt. 



Huron 


..1829 


Home ....; 


.1829 


Huntsman.... 


.1829 


Hudson 


.1^29 
.1.V29 


Hatchee 


Heiald 


.1829 


Henry Clay. . 


.1831 


Huntress 


..1834 


Hunter 


.1834 


Independence 


..1818 


Illinois.. 


.1826 


Industry 


..1829 


Ivauhoe 


..1834 


James Monroe,! 81 6 


James Boss... 


..1818 




..1826 
..1828 


J as. O'Hara.. 


Juniata 


..1832 


John Nelson. 


..1833 


Kentuckian.. 


..1829 


La Fayette.... 


..1825 


Liberator 


..1826 


L y Washing' 


nl826 


Lark 


..1829 


Louisville 


..1831 


Lancaster 


..1832 


Messenger.... 


..1826 


Maryland 


..1827 


Missouri 


..182S 


Monhican .... 


..1829 


Monticello.... 


..1829 


Mobile 


..1830 
..1831 
n]832 


Mohawk 


Mediterranea 


Missourian... 


..1832 


Mobile Farm' 


r]832 


Miner 


..1833 
.1833 


Majestic 


Moque 


.1833 


JMinerva 


..1833 



Boats and when built. 



Boats and when built. 



Marion 18S5 

Madison 1835 

New Orleans. ..1811 

^lew York 1826 

New Pen 11 'a.... 182 

Neptune 1828 

N. America 1828 

Nile 1829 

New Jersey 1830 

Napoleon 1831 

N. Brun.swick..l832 

Nimrod 1832 

Olive Branch... 1819 

Ohio 1830 

Olive 1830 

OConnell 183 

Ohioan 1833 

President 182-^ 

Phoenix 1823 

PlttSb'git St") -jon.a 

Louis Pack'tJ ^^^^ 

Pittsburjih 1823 

Pennsylvania, 1823 

Paul Jones 1825 

Pocahontas. ...1825 

Powhatan 1828 

Fhcenix. 1828 

Plaquemine ...1828 
Pennsylvania, 1827 

Packet 1829 

Peruvian 1830 

Pittsburgh 1831 

Planter.. 183] 

Privateei 1833 

Protector 1834 

Pdtosi 1834 

Plough Boy 1834 

Pawnee 1836 

Pioneerf 1835 



Rapide 1819 

Kambler 1823 

Bed Rover 1828 

Red K. ver 1829 

Ruhama 1829 

Ketuin 1832 

hobt. Morris...l835 

Rover 1835 

St. Louis 1818 

Shamrock 1827 

Shepherdess ...1827 

Star 1828 

Stranger 1828 

Sam Patch 1830 

Scout 1831 

|Saugamon, 18c2 

Siam 1835 

.-elina 1835 

Tamerlane 1818 

Thos.Je£ferson,1818 

Telegraph 1819 

Talii^man 1828 

Talma 1829 

Trenton 1829 

Tally ho 1829 

Tarifi 1829 

Transport 1832 

Tempest 1835 

Tuskina 1835 

Uncle Sam 1829 

Uncas 1829 

Vesuvius 1814 

Victory 1829 

Yan Bur en 1833 

West.Engineer]839 
Yi illiani Penn..l825 
Wm D.Duncan 1827 

Woodvvman 1831 

Warrior 1832 



Making 19*7 boats built in the period embraced in the table. There were built 
at Brownsville in the same period, twenty-two, and at Beaver, seven. 

In 1836 the constuction of boats was greatly increased. In that year the 
Alton, Asia, Amite, Boonville, Bee, Brighton, Boguehoma, Baltimore, Colum- 
biana, Chamois, C. L. Bass, Camden, Corinthian, Emerald, Eutaw, Florida, 
General Wayne, Gipsey, Grand Gulph, George A. Bayard, Georgia, Huntsville, 
Havana, Howard, Harkaway, Kentucky, Kansas, Lilly, Loyal Hannah, London, 
Louisville, Mobile, Massillon, Nick Biddle, Newark, New Beaver, New Lisbon, 
Ontario, Oceola, Palmyra, Pavillion, Prairie, Paris, Quincy, Robt. Morris, Rienzi, 
Salem, Sandusky, Savannah, St. Peters, Steubenville Packet, St. Louis, Troy, 
Tremont, United States, Yandalia, Vermont, Wabash, Warren, W^m. Wirt, Wm. 



94 Pittsburgh and Allegheny 

Hurlburt — in all 61, were built, being 252 steamboats constructed at Pittsburgh 
from 1811 to 1836. Of these there were finished in 

1811, 1 1822, 2 1830, 12 

1812, 1 1823, 5 1831, IT 

1814, 3 1824, ..... 3 1832, ..... 18 

1816, 1 1825, 9 1833, 12 

1817, ..... 5 1826, . . . . .16 1834, 10 

1818, 7 1827, 7 1835, 19 

1819, 8 1828, 16 ■ 1836, 61 

1829, 25 

One circumstance among these records of boat building is noticeable, and 
that is the pioneer character of many of the boats constructed at Pittsburgh. 

For instance, the ''New Orleans" was the first steamboat to navigate the 
Ohio and Mississippi. The ''Independence" was the first to ascend the Missouri. 
The "Western Engineer" the first to reach Council Bluffs; and the "American" 
is mentioned in Niles' Register, in April, 1825, as the first to ascend the Monon- 
gahela. The "Enterprise" the first to ascend Red river, and to make the return 
voyage from New Orleans up the Ohio. 

In 1837 there were owned here and running in regular lines to this city, 
sixty-three boats, of an average value of $15,000 each, being a total of $945,000. 

In 1846 there were built here sixty-three steamboats, besides keels, barges, 
&c. The tonnage of the steamboats was 11,084 tons. 

From 1852 to 1856 there were constructed at this point, steamboats as speci- 
fied below: 



1852, 
1853, 
1854, 
1855, 
1856, 



nboats, 

70 


Tonnage. 


Value. 

$1,050,700 






78 


21,007 


1,560,000 


83 


14,692 


1,660,000 


72 


15,360 


1,440,000 


59 


11,424 


1,180,000 



The business of 1856, from low water, was less, probably one-third, than it 
would otherwise have been. The number of boats constructed in that year, and 
the tonnage thereof, shows a falling off from previous years ; notwithstanding 
which it contrasts brightly with the six boat building points on the Ohio, as 
given below : 

The year of 1856 was an exceptional year in the hydraulics of the Ohio. 
The river, by reason of extreme low water from May until December, and by ice 
from December until February, being almost entirely unnavigable. A letter 
addressed in 1865 by a committee appointed by the citizens of Pittsburgh, in 
reply to interrogatories propounded by Rear Admiral Davis, chairman of a naval 
commission to recommend a site for a western navy yard, in response to inter- 
rogation 11th, — "For how many months in the year can a boat drawing (10) ten 



In the Centennial Year. 



95 



feet or less pass from Pittsburgh to the Gulf of Mexico," state : " We find on exami- 
nation that, in 1860, there were 118 days during that year when a boat could pass 
safely down the river from this port to the Mississippi, drawing eight feet water. 
In the year 1861 there were 148 days when the channel depth from this port out 
was over eight feet; in 1861 there were 136 days with same result; and in 1863 
there were 127 days that the same amount of water was in the channel." They 
further stated: ''Although certain statistics given, ishow that for over one-third 
of the year there is passage from Pittsburgh to the Mississippi for vessels draw- 
ing from eight to ten feet, there is an aggregate of many weeks throughout 
the year in which ships drawing twelve to fourteen feet can readily find water 
for navigation, with frequent freshets on which vessels of fifteen to twenty feet 
draught can be floated to the seaboard." In this connection it is proper to say 
that there are years in which, for three-fourths of the days, vessels drawing from 
eight to ten feet, would find plenty of water; and that it the government would, 
as they of right should, apply plans already tested to equalizing and maintaining 
the water of the Ohio, there would be a continuous and ample navigation the 
year round, and many sea going vessels would clear from Pittsburgh, laden with 
Pittsburgh manufactures for foreign markets. 

Of 1*77 steamboats, barges, keel-boats, &c., constructed on the Ohio river in 
1856, there were built at Pittsburgh: 



Steamers, 



59 



Keels, 15 

Barges, 14 

Flatboats, 20 



Total, 108 



Tonnage. 
11,424 60-95ths. 
664 54 '' 
1,417 23 " 
553 8 " 



14,059 45-95ths. 



At Cincinnati, Steamers, 
" " Barges, 



30 
2 



Total, 



32 



Tonnage. 
8,281 53-95ths. 
295 73 " 



8,541 26-95ths. 



At New Albany, steamers, 18; at Louisville, steamers, 11; at Jeffersonville, 
steamers, 5; at Madison, steamers, 2; at Paducah, steamers, 1. Total, 37. 

In 1857 there were completed at Pittsburgh 84 steamboats, of the value of 
$1,680,000. 

From 1857 to 1875, a period of eighteen years, there was constructed in the 
vicinity of and enrolled in the district of Pittsburgh, six hundred and forty-nine 
steamboats, whose aggregate tonnage was one hundred and fifty-five thousand 
two hundred and fifty-three tons, and whose value was twenty-one millions eight 
hundred and eighty-six thousand and seventy-three dollars. In the same period 
there was constructed five hundred and eighteen barges, whose tonnage was one 
hundred thousand eight hundred and eighty-three tons. Also four hundred and 



96 



Pittsburgh and Allegheny 



ninety-six keel and flat boats, having a tonnage of twenty-one thousand six hun- 
dred and sixty-two tons, and twenty-six ferry boats, with a tonnage of twenty- 
six hundred and eighty-one tons, being an aggregate tonnage construction of two 
hundred and eighty thousand four hundred and seventy nine tons, having an 
aggregate value of over twenty-two million of dollars. 

The following table shows number and tonnage of steamboats, &c. constructed 
in the vicinity of and enrolled Ui the Port of Pittsburgh, from 1857 to 1875.-^ 



Year. 


1858. 


1859. 


1860. 


1861. 


1862. 


1863. 




No. 


Tons. 


No. 


Tons. 

8,678 
109 

386 

347 


No. 

68 

1 

6 

8 


Tons. 


No. 


Tons, 

- . 


No. 


Tons. 


No. 


Tons. 


Steamboats, 
Ferry Boats, 
^Keel and) 
Flat Boats, j 
Barges, . . . 


27 
2 

10 

10 


4,930 
168 

386 

1,671 


53 
1 

10 

6 


11,892 
129 

129 

751 


14 

1 

21 

8 


2,774 
163 

762 

808 


50 

61 
13 


6,992 

1,870 
1,746 


81 

1 

88 
19 


16,625 
205 

4,055 

2,166 


Totals, . . 


49 


7,177 


70 


9,520 


83 


12,900 


44 


4,507 


124 


10,608 


189 


23,641 



Year. 


1864. 


1865. 


1866. 


1867. 


1868. 


1869. 




No. 


Tons. 


No. 


Tons. 


No. 


Tons. 


No. 


Tons. 


No. 


Tons. 


No. 


Tons. 


Steamboats, 
Ferry Boats, 
•^Keel and) 
Flat Boats, j 
Barges, . . . 


84 
1 

59 

15 


18,361 
139 

3,009 

2,102 


45 
9 

140 

30 

224 


13,666 
716 

5,978 

4,911 


46 
2 

68 

31 


14,206 
315 

2,879 

8,363 


18 
3 

7 

36 


7,327 
361 

192 

7,498 


13 
3 

9 

70 


2,553 
136 

701 

12,986 


26 
1 

5 

43 


8,761 
73 

516 

9,025 


Totals, . . 


169 


23,711 


25,265 


147 


25,703 


64 


15,608 


95 


16,370 


75 


18,375 



Year. 


1870. 


1871. 


1872. 


1873. 


1874. 


1875. 




No. 


Tons. 


No. 


Tons. 


No. 


Tons. 


No.' 


Tons. 


No. 


Tons. 


No. 


Tons. 


Steamboats, 
Ferry Boats, 
^Keel and) 
Flat Boats, j 
Barges, . . . 


29 

3 

25 

57 


11,631 

272 
6,480 


33 

2 

1 
30 


10,689 
96 

67 

6,067 


22 

3 
30 


8,975 

183 
7,124 


25 

1 

1 
106, 


5,392 
80 

47 

21,011 


3 


242 


12 


2,462 


2 
34 

39 


172 
7,306 


2 

4 


58 
581 


Totals, . . 


18,383 


66 


16,919 


55 


15,382 


133 


26,530 


7,720 


18 


3,101 



*There was in the same period enrolled 113 canal boats, with a tonnage of 4,702 tons. Also con- 
structed in 1859, 1863, 1865 and 1875, one propeller each, and in 1873 three. Also in 1862, 1863 ard 
1866 one steam canal hoat each year. Also in 1867 one echooner, and in 1872 one. Also in 1873 and 
1874 two dredge boats each year. 



In the Centennial Year. 



97 



The subjoined table presents the names of the steamboats each vear, from 
11858 to 1875: 



1858. 


T. D. Horner, 


Commercial, 


Monitor, 


Savanna, 


Louisville, 


Venango, 


St. Cloud, 


0. H. Ormsby, 


Tigress No. 2, 


Sylph, 


Roanoke, 


Lake Erie, No.3, 


Izetta , 


John F. Carr, 


Volunteer, 


HettieHartupea 


Evening Star, 


Sky Lark, 


Collier, 


Sampson, 


Silver Cloud, 


Areola, 


Financier, 


Echo, 


Telegraph, 


Dick Fulton, 


Key West, No.3, 


Alice, 


A. Jacobs, 


Rowena, 


Dunbar, 


No. 2, 


White Rose, 


Olive, 


Maggie Hays, 


Pembioaw, 


Clara Poe, 


Tycoon, 


Liberty, No. 3, 


Carrie, 


Kate B. Porter, 


Canada, 


Belle Peoria, 


"W. H B." 


Coal Bluff, 


Tiger, 


Alex. Chambers 


Decotah, 


Persia, 


V. F. Wilson, 


Ella Faber, 


J. T. Stockdale, 


Painter, No. 2, 


Ida May, 


Bellewood, 


Isaac Hajnmett, 


Nellie Rogers, 


Leni Leoto, 


Venture, 


Silver Lake, 


Dan'l B. Miller, 


John T. 


Tempest, 


Capt. John 


Glide, No. 3, 


Victoria, 


George Thomp- 


Mc Combs. 


Starlight, 


Brickell, 


Petrolia, No. 2, 


Keokuk, 


son, 


Kenton, 


Orient, 


Charmer, 


Charlie Chever, 


Panola, 


Southern Flora, 


Sunshine, 


Cottage, No. 2, 


Oil Exchange, 


A. Foster, 


Cedar Rapids, 


Vigo, 


Robt. Fulton. 


Advance, 


General Irwin, 


Columbia, 


JTim Watson, 


Lone Star, 


Daniel Bushnell 


Argonaut, 


Ida Rees, 


Alice, 


€. Rogeri?, 


David Lynch. 


James Hale, 


Duchess, 


Argosy, No. 2, 


Kate Putnam, 


• J. S. Cosgrave, 




Robert Lee, 


Emma, No. 2, 


Silver Cloud, 


Virginia Barton 


Elmira, 


1860. 


Westmoreland, 


Shark, 


No. 2, 


Lotus, 


Diana, 


West Wind, 


Col. Stelle, 


Whale, 


Natrona. 


Nora, 


Fannie, 


Storm, No. 2, 


Citizen. 


Mary B. Forsyth 


Petrel, No. 2, 


Mist, 


A. G. Brown, 


Hawk Eye State 




Eclipse, 


Bengal Tiger, 


Guidon, 


Robt. Watson, 


Mohawk, 


1861. 


Dick Fulton. 


Tom Rees, 


Stella, 


Flora Temple, 


Sucker State, 


Silver Lake, 




Leonidas, 


Hawk, 


Emma Bett, 


Porter Rhodes, 


No. 2, 


1863. 


Julia, 


Storm, No. 3, 


Eagle, 


Sunny Side, 


Lexington, 


Armada, 


Paragon, 


Katie, 


Vulcan, 


Diadem, 


Continental, 


Armenia, 


Lion, 


Pilgrim, 


Era No. 3. 


Gen Anderson, 


Bill Henderson, 


Nevada, 


Hawkeye, No. 2, 


Wananita, 




Science, 


Florence, 


Emperor, 


Rover, 


Anna, 


1859. 


Arago, 


Leiia, 


Argos.v, 


Adelaide, 


Onward, 


•Conestoga, 


Dolphin, 


G. W. Graham. 


Jennie Rogers, 


Hunter, No. 2, 


Arrow, 


Niagara, 


Porter, 


Igo, 


Schuyler, 


Urilda, 


W. F. Curtis, 


Sam. Clark, 


Alfred Robb, 


Emma Graham, 


Majestic, 


Panther, 


Gipsey, 


Allegheny Belle 


Webster, 


Billy Hodgeson, 


Davenport, 


Tom Farrow, 


John S. Hall, 


No. 4, 


Maquota City, 


Cottage, 


Lilly Martin, 


Black Hawk. 


Zephyr, 


Northener, 


S. C. Baker, 


W. H. Dinnis, 


Carrie Jacobs. 


Advance, No. 2, 


Bob Connell, 


John Raj", 


Chas. Miller, 


Eglantine, 


James R. Gil- 


Leopttrd, 


Veteran, 


Des Moines City 


Alamo, 


Warren Packard 


more, 


Star, 


Little Alps, 


.J.N. Kellogg, 


Gallatin, 




Fox, 


N. J. Bigley, 


Rocket, 


Coloma, 


Rose Douglass, 


1862. 


Emma, 


Darling, 


Little Jim Rees, 


Col. Gus. Linn, 


Sabine, 


Lac on. 


City of Pekiu, 


Kate Robinson, 


Allegheny, 


Post Boy, 


Frontier City. 


Monte re3% 


Sea Gull, 


Wm. Barnhill. 


Centralia, 


Emma, 


Wild Cat, 


Petrel, 


Thistle, 




Spray, 


Jacob Painter, 


Mustang, 


Tiber, 


R.K.Dunkerson 


1864. 


Iron City, 


Red Chief No. 2, 


Arab, 


E^tella, 


Camel ia, 


Hercules, 


Yorktown, 


Leon, 


May Duke, 


Monitor, No. 2, 


Silver Lake, No- 


Jos. Pierce, 


Leclaire, No. 2, 


Nile, 


Gazelle, 


Express, 


4. 


Warmer, 


Commonwealth 


South Bend, 


Jackson, 


Market Boy, 


Oil Citv, 


Echo, No. 3. 


Jos. Fleming, 


Undine, 


Cricket No. Z, 


Partheuia, 


Echo No. 2, 


Silver Spray, 


Coal City, 


Uncle Ike, 


Franklin, 


Navigation, 


Glide, 


Alpha, 


Starlight, 


Julia Roane, 


Time, 


Silver LaLe, 


Princess, 


Golden Eagle, 


Picket, 


Indianola, 


Ad. Hine, 


No. 3, 


Mercury, 


Damsel, 


Tamaulipas, 


Eva No. 4, 


Linden, 


Uncle Sam, 


Colossus, 


Benton, 


Champion, 
Alex. Speer, 


-John C.Calhoun 


Talequah, 


New York, 


Calypso, 


Brilliant, 


Miramerlyn, 


Lilly, 


R. H. Barnum, 


Geneva, 


Little Giant, 


Argosy, 


Pine Bluff, 


Era No. .5, 


Glide, 
Grampus No. 2, 


Welcome, 


Little Whale, 


A. J. Baker, 


Two Kings, 


Key West, No. 2 


Albert Pearce, 


Hero, 


Bee, 


News Boy, 


Judge Fletcher, 


Exchange, 


Norman, 


Traveler, 


Laura, No. 2, 


Indian No. 2, 


Era, No. 6, 


Laura Bell, 


Bertha, 


Argos, 


Hard Times, 


Andy Fultoa, 


Ucliee, 


Golden Era, 


James Rees, 


Kate Kearney, 


Coal Valley, 


^rey Eagle, 


Wm- H, Young, 


Juliet, 


Gen. Grant, 


M. S. Mepham, 


Albion. 


«€otton Plant, 


Jonas Powell, 


Marmora, No. 2, 


Vigilant, 


Oatario. 




Laclalre, 


Cornie, 


Saint Clair, 


Nightingale. 


Hyena, 


1865. 


IjMcj Gwia, 


Liberty, No. 3, 


Brilliant, 


Nyanza. 


Montana, 


Armadillo. 


Lioness, 


La Salle, 


Forest Rose, 


Muscatine, 


Bayard, 


W. H. Osborn, 


Mingo, 


Arkansas, 


Romeo, 


America, 


Sewickley, 


Deer Lodge, 


Marisanna. 


Emma Duncan, 


New Era, 


Prairie State, 


Petrolia, 


Fayette, 


Pic ayune No. 3, 

7 


Matamoras, 


B. C. Levi, 


Key West No. 4 


Cherokee, 


Belle, 



98 


Pittsburgh and Allegheny 




Lark, 


_ 

Peter Balen, 


J.N.M'Cullough 


Harry A. Jones, 


Esperanza, 


Ella Layman, 


Lorena, 


Dan Hine, 


Rapidan, No. 2, 


Fred. Wilson, 


Nellie Peek, 


My Choice, 


Tart, 


Tahlequah, 


Abe Hays, 


No. 2, 


Lady Lee, 


Relief, 


Ajax, 


Minnesota, 


J. F. Dravo, 


Tom Rees, No. 2 


West Virginia, 


Reliable, No, 2,. 


Parana, 


Miner, 


Selma, 


Samson, No. 2. 


Katie P. Kountz 


(Schooner.) 


Amelia Poe, 


Elkhorn, 


Mary Alice, 




Baton Rouge 


Emma Graham^ 


J. S. Neel, 


Nile, 


Reliable— 


1870. 


Belle, 


M. Dougherty, 


Greenback, 


Blue Lodge, 


(Schooner.) 


Carrie V. 


Tom Lysle, 


Eiliy Collins, 


Reindeer, 


Gray Hound, 




Kountz, 


James Jackson, 


Josephine, 


Forest City, 


Chieftain, 


1868. 


Arlington, 


Charley McDon- 


Hiram, 


Mink, 


Pine Bluff, 


Peninah. 


City of Evans- 


ald, 


Kate Dicksouy 


Nimrod, 


Arabian, 


Sallie. 


ville. 


Belle Rowland, 


Elsie, 


Pike, 


Resolute, 


J.A. Blackmore 


Juniata, 
Far West, 


Geneva, 


Lillie. 


Gleaner, 


Elector, 


Andrew Ackley 


Cora Bell, 


Alex. Foster, 


Emma Logan, 


Rapidan, 


Mountain Boy, 


Lake Superior, [Park Painter, 


Madoc, 


Dictator, 


R. C. Gray, 


Park Painter, 


Red Wing, 


No. 2. 


Iron City, 


Samuel Roberts 


Lotus, No. 2, 


A. E. Pierpont, 


Trader, 


Storm, 


J. C. Risher, 


Minnie, 


S. M. Crane, 


J. D. Johnson, 


Fontenelle, 


Jos. A. Stone, 


Maggie Smith, 


Wild Duck, 


Fair Play, 


Galatea, 


Granite State, 


John Penney, 


Ark. 


Fearless, 


Fort Smith, 


M. Whitmore, 


R. J. Lockwood 


J. S. Mercer, 


Belle McGowant' 


Peerless, 


W. A. Caldwell, 


Ft. Gibson, 


Exchange, 


Robei t Seniple, 


Is. Keefer, 


Imperial, 


Van Buren, 


W. M. Stone. 


Carrie Converge 


San Juan, 


Enterprise, 


Oil Valley, 


Ezra Porter, 


Economist. 


Tidal Wave, 


Alice Brown, 


B. D. Wood, 


Julia No. 2, 


Belle Vernon, 




Mollie Moore, 


John F. Tolle, 


L. W. Morgan, 


Tidioute, 


Quickstep, 


1869. 


N. J. Bigley, 


Abe. McDonald^ 


Nellie Walton,. 


Keystone, 


Rochester, 


Mollie Ebert, 


No. 2, 


Ben. Wood, 


Jos. Walton, 


C. D. Fry, 


Atlanta, 


Silver Bow, 


George Roberts 


N. M. Jones, 


Shippers Own^ 


Neville, 


SimpsonHorner 


Carrie V. 


Thirteenth Era. 


Athletic. 


Transit, 


Antelope, 


Sam. Brown, 


Kountz, 


Oil Valley, No. 2 




Bee, 


Sybil, 


Flicker, 


Three Lights, 


Samuel Clarke, 


1872. 


Paragon. 


John Hanna, 


Mary Ann, 


Nick. Wall, 


Joseph H. Big- 


John Dippold, 




Kangaroo, 


Grand Lake, 


Colossal, 


ley, 


George Lysle, 


1874. 


Mary Davage, 


Glendale, 


Minneopolis, 


Brill, 


Chas. Brown, 


Hippopotamus^ 


Ida Rees, No. 2, 


Dexter, 


Flirt, 


John A. Wood, 


Evan Williams, 


Eainbow, 


Wild Boy, 


Jim Brown, 


Ironsides, 


Wm. Cowan, 


Smoky City, 


Joseph Warner* 


Annie Lovell, 


Exchange, 


Australia, 


Oceanus, 


L.C.McCormick 




Messenger, 


Baltic. 


Mountain Belle 


Veteran, No. 2, 


Iron Mountain, 


1875. 


Barnett, 




Matamoras, 


R.J.Grace. 


Exporter, 


Chas. A. Wood, 


Fred Wilson, 


1867. 


No. 2, 


Henry C.Yeager 


Grand Lake, 


Carroll, 


Grey Eagle. 


Elizabeth, 


Lotus, No. 3, 


J. Sharp 


No. 2. 


Benton, 




Ida Stockdale, 


Jefferson, 


McDonald. 


Western, 


Thomas J. 


1866. 


Elisha Bennett, 


Barranquilla, 




Murillo, 


Darragh,. 


Luella, 


Diamond, 


Julia A. Ru- 


1871. 


Jos. A. Stone, 


Jack Gumbert, 


Glasgow, 


Great Republic, 


dolph, 


May Lowery, 


Key West. 


Andrew Foster, 


Rubicon, 


Dubuque, 


Batesville, 


John Bigley, 


Little Andy 


Wm. S. Holt, 


Winchester, 


Boaz, 


Grand Lake, 


Belle of Texas, 


Fulton. 


Seven Sons, 


Jas. L. Graham, 


Linton, 


No. 2, 


Glencoe, 


Wm. Wagner, 


Dauntless, 


Importer, 


Success, 


Chas.H.DurffeeTom Dodsworth 


Acorn, 


John L. Rhoada 


Emma No. 3, 


Active, 


Hornet, No. 2, | John Gilmore, 


Nellie Speer, 


Big Foct, 


Ella, 


James Gilmore, 


Lioness, No. 2, JD. T. Lane, 


Oakland, 


George Baker. 


N. J. Bigley, 


Clipper, 


Phoenix, 1 


E. H. Durfee, ' 


Samuel Miller, ' 





On "account of the great abundance of the different kinds of timber, the- 
cheapness of iron, of labor, of paint, and of all other materials used in the con- 
struction of steamboa*ts, they can be built at a less cost at Pittsburgh than in any 
western port, and consequently they are built and fitted out here more steamers 
than at any three or four other cities of the West. The report to Rear Admiral 
Davis before cited, states that there are in the vicinity of Pittsburgh, including 
the Monongahela valley, eleven ship-yards. That the boats are built equally as- 
well as elsewhere, there is no denial; and were there, the superb, powerful boats 
which have year after yearbeen sent out from this port, would at once assert and? 
maintain the superior ability of our shipwrights. The leading city for nearlj^ 
seventy years engaged in the construction of boats for the western waters, there- 
is a vast fund of practical knowledge accumulated from those many years of 



In the Centennial Year. 9^ 



experience, existing in the minds of the contractors and mechanics employed \m 
that branch of trade in Pittsburgh; and such boats as the ''Buckeye State," the 
''Pennsylvania," the ''City of Memphis," the "Great Republic," and scores of 
others similar, attest the skill with which that knowledge is brought to bear in^ 
the production of boats unequaled on the western waters for speed, beauty, com- 
fort, convenience and cheapness. 

There are few more pleasing sights than one of those beautiful boats, of ' 
which the Pittsburgh boat-builders have launched so many, speeding its way 
along our western rivers, nor is there any pleasure trip so filled with variety,, 
comfort and restfulness to the weary body and mind, as one on a well appointed, 
western steamer, to whatsoever point time or inclination may dictate. The- 
following verses from a lengthy poem^ addressed nearly thirty years ago to one 
of those beautiful creations of the skill of Pittsburgh mechanics, is quoted^ her© 
as illustrative of western river scenery and western boats : 

"O'er many an azure tinted river's breast, 

Thy snowy form in graceful flight shall glide, 
Afar, where still on "Red" the wild deer drink,,, 

Where "Mississippi" rolls his turbid tide;; 
On rivers sparkling 'neath a Southern sun, 

On Northern waters blue and coldly clear, 
Where summer mantles verdure to the brink, 

Or snows and rocks make even home itself look drear. 

Past cliffs whose shadows gloom the waters 'round. 

Past broad savannas sloping to the shore, 
Past forests old, where drooping o'er the heights 

Frown oaken Patriarchs garbed in wild moss hoar ;: 
On all sunlight shall find thee beautiful, 

Moonlight hang graces on thy snowy side — 
And ever in the great or lesser light. 

Bright waters leaping greet thee like a Triton's bride. 



On rivers gloomy from the dearth of man, 

Where old trees nod a welcome stately slow; 
Prairies smile on thee beneath the sun, 

While dimple like their dew drops show, 
Where tangled thickets fringing river sides, 

Their greetings whisper to the stranger swift ; 
While soft winds creeping timid from the shore, 

Bear to thy decks the wild woods fragrant gift. 

*By Geo. H. Thurston . 



100 Pittsburgh and Allegheny *' 

Past forests vine hung to the riyer's edge, 

Thou'll speed with sea bird grace thy restle^ course j 
Whilst Silence startled echoes frightened back, 

The loud, rough clamor of i\ij breathing hoarse ;t 
Astonished, cliff to cliff loud mocks thy voice. 

The waters murm'ring wonder 'fore thee shrink; 
Then mad'ning, foam complaining in thy wake. 

And rush along the river's pebble scattered brink. 

The tangled thicket dwelling fay, who haunts 

The long glade smiling wanly 'neath the moon, 
Thou'lt oft times fright, as sudden round the bank 

Thy fires shooting light the jutting gloom; 
For which will tricksey Puck, in vengeful glee, 

With frequent fright the careful wheelsman fag, 
Asudden starting up afore the prow. 

In shape of sawyer huge or jagged sharp limbed snag. 



When night her wings of slumber brooding, stretches 

Calm o'er thy tenantry of anxious life, 
The impatient pulses of each bosom hushing, 

The heart's wild hoping and yet wilder strife, 
Thy iron heart with clanging pulses beats 

As strongly as throughout the busy day, 
While Echo chasing in her airy boat, 

Thy hoarse voice mocks the live long night in phantom play. 

■X- -X- -K- 'X- -X- -X- . -Jf 

The red blood mantles with a deeper glow. 

The heart swells prouder in its throbbings proud; 
And thought grows eloquent with prideful praise, 

The tongue feels eager to express aloud. 
When men thy noble toil admiring praise. 

We think what land through time shall be so famed. 
As home of those who this creation formed, 

And list our own free nation as their birth place named. 

^ ^ ^ ^' ¥: ^ ^ 

noble Fulton ! Fitch ! ye fame crowned twain, 

No monument of marble, bronze, ye need; 
No sciilptured column piercing air, with long 

Inscription for the passer-by to read ; 



f All Western steamboats are run with high-pressure engines. The rush of steam through th» 
escape pipes producing a sound not unlike hoarse laborious breathing. 



In the Centennial Year. 101 

Where e'er through lands fair rivers laughing run, 

Where e'er broad seas heave moonward round the earth, 

There glide proud monuments in useful pomp, 

That show thine honored genius and make known thine worth. 

Another useful monument to worth — 

Speed then fair namesake of a noble State j"^ 
Each clanging pulse a hymn to genius sing, 

Each breath a requiem for their hard cast fate ; 
Thy Bmoke cloud banner streaming on the wind, 

Emblazoned thick w-ith fiery stars by night, — 
Thy voice proclaiming loudly 'long the shore, 

Man's giant triumph o'er the elements strong might." 

It has not been alone in building those beautiful wooden boats that have, 
where throughout our western States, "fair rivers laughing run," given Pitts- 
burgh boat builders' fame that Pittsburgh has attained a reputation as a ship 
building city. In the construction of iron vessels the mechanics of Pittsburgh 
claim ability, and have attained success. In vessels for the peaceful pursuits of 
commerce, and in those for the sterner uses of war, they have fully demon- 
strated Pittsburgh's facilities for the production of iron ships. 

The first boat built of iron that navigated the western waters, was the 
"Valley Forge," built in 1839, by Wm. C. Robinson, Benjamin Minis and Reu- 
ben Miller, Jr., then proprietors of the Washington Iron Works, now carried on 
under the style of Robinson, Rea & Co. 

The hull of the "Valley Forge" measured on deck 180 feet. The breadth of 
beam was 29 feet, and depth of hold 5J feet. Across her deck and guards at 
their widest point, the breadth was 49^ feet. The frame of the boat was of 
angle iron, the bottom and deck beams T iron, and the outside one-fourth of an 
inch Juniata boiler plate. The boiler or first deck was all plate iron. The floor 
and hull plates were of a plain smooth surface, the sheets being closely jointed 
at the butts. The sides were clinker lap. The keel, which was five-eighths of 
an inch iron, was laid in the summer of 1838, and the vessel was launched in 
the summer of 1839, and left 'the same fall on her first trip to New Orleans. 
There was one iron bulk head the entire length, divided into eight water tight 
sections. Her tonnage was about four hundred tons, and her cost |60,000. She 
ran from Pittsburgh to New Orleans, St. Louis and Nashville, and ascended the 
Cumberland river as high as "Rome," Georgia. She continued to run until 
1845, although once sunk by running upon a snag, but was raised and repaired. 
In the spring of 1845, being unable to compete with boats built under improved 
plans with greater carrying capacity, she was dismantled, and the hull was cut 
apart and sold to iron manufacturers, and made into various descriptions of mer- 



*New Hamp^'^liire. 



102 Pittsburgh and Allegheny 

chant iron. The last trip of the ''Valley Forge" was in July, 1845, from 
Pittsburgh to McKeesport, with a large pic-nic party. 

There has been built at Pittsburgh in all, some fifteen or eighteen iron boats, 
of which nine were war vessels. Two of these were constructed at the Fort 
Pitt Foundry works, famous for its manufacture of Columbaids. These two 
were built in 1845. They were each 210 feet keel, 21 feet beam, 17 feet depth of 
hold, and constructed of iron, varying from one-half to three-sixteenths of an 
inch in thickness. One of these, the ''Jefferson," was constructed at Pittsburgh, 
taken apart and transported to Oswego, and there put together again and 
launched. She was perfectly satisfactory in all respects, and cost $180,000, and 
is still in service. The other was called the " George M. Bibb," after the then 
Secretary of the Navy. The " Bibb " was launched at Pittsburgh, and went down 
the Ohio and the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico. Her cost was $250,000, and 
she is still in service. These two were two years in building. The iron revenue 
cutter "Michigan," now in service on the lakes, was also built at Pittsburgh, 
being set up complete on the lot at the junction of First and Liberty avenues, 
now occupied by the First Ward Public School. She was then taken to pieces 
and transported to the lakes, and there put together and launched. The iron 
for her construction was furnished from the famous Sligo Mills, of Lyon, 
Shorb & Co., from their best Juniata blooms, and 350f tons of this celebrated 
brand of iron was used in the construction of the vessel. In 1863 two other 
vessels were built on the ground adjoining the Sligo Mills, of iron furnished from 
these works. One, the "Manayunk," was a turret ship, armed with two fifteen 
inch guns. Her length was 224 feet, beam 43 feet 3 inches, depth of hold 12 
feet, draught of water 12 feet, and the inside diameter of her turret 21 feet. 
This vessel was pronounced by good naval authority as a most admirable boat, 
in all respects safe to sail in around the world. The other, called the "Umpqua,'' 
was a lighter draught, intended for river service, but also a turret vessel, or 
monitor, as they were popularly called during the war. Her length was 225 feet, 
with 45 feet beam, 7 feet 10 inches hold, and drew 6 feet 6 inches water. The 
height of her turret was 9 feet, and its inside diameter 20 feet. She was armed 
with one eleven inch gun and one one hundred and fifty pounder Parrot rifle 
gun. There was used in the construction of the "Manayunk" 1,247J tons of 
iron, and in that of the "Umpqua" 813 tons. The plates for the turrets of these 
vessels were inch plutes ten times repeated. The iron of the skins or hulls 
was from three-fourths to one-half inch in thickness. Both these vessels went 
to sea by way of the Ohio and Missississippi rivers. Two other war vessels for 
the United States navy, were also constructed at Pittsburgh about 1845. One 
was a small revenue cutter, called the "Hunter," and the other, a second class 
frigate, called the "Allegheny," both of which went down the Ohio to the ocean, 
and are still in service. In 1864-5 there was also built for the government, of 
iron, the "Marietta" and the "Sandusky." In addition to these, several boats 
for the peaceful uses of commerce have been constructed at Pittsburgh, of iron 



In the Centennial Year, 103 

€urnished bj her mills, two of these now navigating Brazilian rivers, were built 
in 1874. 

In closing this chapter, in which a limited sketch is attempted of Pittsburgh 
facility and ability in the. construction of vessels, it is proper, in connection with 
the brief account of the iron vessels built at the city, to allude again to the 
most admirable location Pittsburgh is for a naval construction arsenal. In the 
vessels of war mentioned as constructed, her power in that respect was fully 
tested, while the ease with which those ships descended the rivers to the 
•ocean, or were transported in sections and put together at other points, makes its 
own argument as to facility. No expensive governmental works were in any of 
the instances required to be built before proceeding with the work. The mills 
and machine shops in daily use, turned out the material as required, and the 
mechanics of the city found themselves perfectly competent to fashion the hulls 
and complete the ships. When this facility in the matter of iron vessels is 
shown; ability in wooden ones, tested for years, when the security of the posi- 
tion is considered, and the facilities of sending vessel after vessel, of almost any 
draught, to the ocean, apparent from actual tests, — ^and the great supply of all 
materials, whether of woods or metals, or fabrics, manifest, there seems much 
reason why government should find it desirable to locate here a naval construc- 
tion yard. Is there not also much to justify the belief that, in the future, with 
increased facilities in navigating the Ohio, that Pittsburgh built ships may 
become navigators of the ocean, as in past years; and their construction be one 
of her prominent manufactures? The day for the full use of the Ohio and our 
other western rivers has not yet fully dawned. When it does, the great facilities 
Pittsburgh possesses of materials and skilled workmen, will keep her in the front 
as heretofore as a great ship yard. 



104 Pittsburgh and Allegheny 



CHAPTER IX. 



MINERALOGICAL POSITION. 



It is without doubt to her location in the bituminous coal basin of Pennsyl- 
vania, that Pittsburgh owes her position as a manufacturing city. Located in 
the northwestern section of the great "Allegheny or Appalachian Coal field," 
frequently known as the great central bituminous coal seam, Pittsburgh has 
given to that portion of the coal measures from which her wants and those of 
the West are supplied, her own name. 

Rodgers and Trego state that the seam known as the " Great Pittsburgh; 
Seam," is the most extensively accessible one in the western coal measures. 

The "Great Seam,'' as it is called in most geological works, or as it is more 
definitely known, "The Great Pittsburgh Seam," is finely exposed at Pittsburgh, 
and along the Ohio and Allegheny rivers; also extending nearly the whole- 
length of the Monongahela river. This seam has been traced through Pennsyl- 
vania into Virginia, and also into Ohio, and is from twelve to fourteen feet thick 
at the southwestern border, from six to eight feet at Pittsburgh, and about five- 
feet still further westward in Ohio. 

Of this seam, Mr. Lyell, the eminent English geologist, says in his travels- iii; 
North America: "I was truly astonished now that I had entered the hydro- 
graphical basin of the Ohio, at beholding the richness of the seams of coaH 
which appeared everywhere on the flanks of the hills and at the bottoms of the 
valleys, and ivhich are accessible m a degree I never witnessed elsewhere. The time has 
not yet arrived when the full value of this inexhaustible supply of cheap fuel can he 
appreciated. "^ * To properl}'- estimate the natural advantages of such a region, 
we must reflect how the three great navigable rivers, such as the Monongahela,, 
Allegheny and Ohio, intersect it, and lay open on their banks the level seams of 
coal. I found at Brownsville a bed ten feet thick, x>f good bituminous coal, com- 
monly called the Pittsburgh seam, breaking out in the river's cliff's, near the 
water edge." 

Of the capacity of the bituminous region for mining, Trego says: "In the 
bituminous coal fields there appear to be not less than ten separate laj^ers or beds 
of coal of sufficient capacity for mining, and which vary in thickness from three 
to ten feet." R. C. Taylor, in his coal statistics, says: "It is possible that within 
the entire series, from the conglomerate upwards, ten such seams may exist; 
but we have not seen a position where more than half that number could he- 
approached." 



In the Centennial Year, 105 

Toward the north and northeastern side of the coal range, the seams range 
from three to four feet. Near Karthaus eight coal seams have been traced, three 
only are workable, the largest being six feet. 

At Blossburg and around the head of Tioga river, from three to six seams 
occur, but not more than two have been mined, and the coals are sent by railroad 
to New York State. 

There are commonly four coal seams existing within the formation in the 
northeast extremity of the ifield, and it is but seldom that more than two work- 
able beds occur in the same locality. 

At Pittsburgh the main bed of workable coal is six feet, and increases in 
thickness as it proceeds up the river to Brownsville, where, as mentioned before,, 
it is estimated by Lyell at ten feet. 

Extensive as is the field of bituminous coal in Pennsylvania, thus scantily 
dotted out in these remarks ; and incalculably valuable as it is to Pittsburgh as 
a manufacturing city, not less valuable to her is the anthracite deposit of coal, 
when viewed in connection with the consumption of iron by her manufactories. 

The bituminous coal field lies principallj^ west of the Allegheny Mountains, 
and extends from Towanda on the northeast, to the southwest angle of the State,. 
a distance of two hundred and fifty miles. 

The coal fields of Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio and Virginia, by reason of the 
natural av^enues of transportation and trade, stand in a supporting relation to 
the coal measures of Western Pennsylvania. 

The area of the Tennessee coal field is 45,000 square miles; of Ohio, 44,000, 
and of Kentucky, 40,500. A certain portion of these in each are iron producing- 
regions at the present time, and will no doubt become yet more productive. 

In Ohio, although the statistics of McCullough give that State an area of 
40,000 square miles, Prof. W. W. Mather estimates the area undoubtedly underlaid 
by coal at but 12,000 square miles, of which only 5,000 contain workable veins. 
"The Ohio coal," says R. 0. Taylor, ^' makes good coke, and mixed with charcoal 
in the production of iron, creates an increased make, equal, it is affirmed, to 33 
per cent." 

The Kentucky field, according to Prof. Mather's Geological Report of 1838, 
has an area of workable coal veins of 7,000 square miles. There are in that area 
several qualities of coal. The main, or Pittsburgh seam, which extends from- 
Pittsburgh through Virginia, reaches Sandy at the boundary of the State, but 
does not extend into it. Taylor says that nearly all the coal brought into use in 
Kentucky is of the description called Cannel. 

The Tennessee division of the Allegheny range occupies an area of 43,000 
square miles, the greater part of which consists of the elevated local group 
known as the Cumberland Mountains. The quality of the coal is spoken of 
as excellent. An analysis of it shows that it approaches in character the semi- 
bituminous variety of Pennsylvania. 



106 Pittsburgh and Allegheny 

These three States, from reason of their production of iron — a portion of 
which comes to Pittsburgh for a market — must always in their mineral produc- 
tions be important auxiliaries to the manufactures of Pittsburgh. 

Not less to the iron deposits which surround this localty, than to her coal, is 
Pittsburgh indebted for her past, and dependent for her future. Cheapness of 
fuel, in the larger proportion of cases, justifies a transportation of mineral to the 
locality of the fuel; but where the transportation of mineral is necessary but 
for short distances, and by easy artificial and available natural channels, the 
combination of cheapness of fuel, with great supplies of mineral immediately at 
hand, constitutes the locality which must become and always, be, a great manu- 
facturing centre. These two requisites Pittsburgh has, and in the importance 
of fuel as a requisite for manufacturing, she has of late acquired a new power. 

Within the last twelve years petroleum has been largely added to the mineral 
products and advantages by which Pittsburgh is surrounded, and with it large 
veins of natural gas have been struck, whose future value is yet undetermined in 
the manufacturing progress of Pittsburgh and its vicinity. The volume of this 
gas is immense, and its power in enabling cheap manufacturing will be great. 
Found in Yenango, Butler and Armstrong counties in great abundance, there is 
every indication that it' will also be obtained in Allegheny county, and in the very 
heart of the city its-elf, in abundance. It has already been brought from Butler 
county to the iron mills of Pittsburgh, by means of pipes. While much yet re- 
mains to.be done in conveying it from the gas wells of those counties in the most 
reliable manner, yet sufficient results have been obtained to show that, much as 
Pittsburgh owes to her central position in the bitumiROus coal fields, it is quite 
possible she will be more indebted to this immense provision of gas for suprem- 
acy as a manufacturing city. If, as indications give every reason to believe, 
this gas should be obtained from the very ground upon whic h the factories of 
Pittsburgh stand, there will be at her command a fuel which, surpassing even 
her coal for quality in its application to the reduction and manufactures of 
metal, will be of almost inconceivable cheapness. Shooting up of its own force 
from the depths of the earth, and needing but to be distributed in pipes to the 
furnaces and forges, or such fires as are needed for manufacturing purposes, or 
for the creation of steam, it will be seen the cost of such fuel will be very small. 

Having briefly sketched the fuel fields surrounding the locality of Pittsburgh, 
we spare a few paragraphs to an equally brief description of the ore field from 
which she has drawn, and is to draw, her supplies of iron. 

Throughout the counties embraced in the bituminous coal region, are to be 
found extensive beds of iron ore, and equally large deposits in the counties east 
of and lying along the bases of the Allegheny Mountains. The Allegheny river 
affords a cheap channel for the supply of iron from the counties lying upon that 
river, and the Monongahela river and Pittsburgh & Connellsville Railroad for the 
iron from the neighborhood of the Youghiogheny and Cheat rivers. The Penn- 
sylvania Central Railroad for the metal of the interior and mountain counties. 



In the Centennial Year. 107 

The quality and quantity of the Allegheny river and Central Pennsylvania iron 
is so fully known as to need no exposition. It is sufficient that the fullest access 
to them is had. The iron's of the celebrated Juniata region are, as it were, at 
Pittsburgh's door, while to the west of her those of Eastern Ohio are equally 
available. The rich ores of Virginia will, on the completion of the Pittsburgh, 
Virginia & Charleston Railroad, be as fully beneath her hand. The ores of 
Lake Superior or the iron of the furnaces of those regions, are cheaply trans- 
ported by water carriage, with but about one hundred and fifty miles of rail 
carriage, while the irons of Missouri are reached by the cheapest of carrying 
agents, through the Ohio river. 

The furnaces of Kentucky, Tennessee, and the central river counties of Ohio, 
also send their metal here for sale It will be noticed that in iron, as in coal, 
Pittsburgh is centrally situated to the products of four States, and that she is 
in her own State immediately surrounded by vast deposits of that mineral, 
while to those of two other States, Michigan and Missouri, she is, by reason of 
facility of cheap transportation, brought almost into as central a position. 

What has been the natural effect of such a mineralogical position upon the 
past of .Pittsburgh, and what will be its effect upon her future, it is hardly 
necessary to inquire. The results are seen in her past progress and her future 
indicated by that past. 

Important as may have been her position at the head waters of the Ohio, and 
as a supplier of merchandise to the country along the waters of the Allegheny, 
Monongahela, and a portion of the Ohio, and of the counties situated along the 
western basis of the Allegheny Mountains, before the age of railroads, and 
prominent as may have been that position under the circumstances then existing; 
yet it is apparent that, to her manufactures, she is indebted for the importance 
which has enabled her not only to hold her position as an important market 
for the last fifty years, but also to increase in a wonderful ratio. 

The two substances, coal and iron, are always, when rendered available, tke 
basis of great and permanent commercial and manufacturing wealth. Spreading 
a map of the nations of the earth before us, we at once perceive that those in 
which exist extensive deposits of these two, at first glance unattractive sub- 
stances, are among the wealthiest, as well as most powerful nations of the 
world, and that upon and around these formations the most flourishing popula- 
tions are concentrated. "Coal," says Vischers, "is now the indispensable 
aliment of industry. "^ "^ It is to industry what oxygen is to the lungs — water 
to the plant — nourishment to the animal." Says Elett: "This is essentially the 
age of commerce and of steam, the foundations of which are our coal mines. 
In the machine shop and factor}^, on the railroad and canal, on the rivers and 
ocean, it is steam that is henceforth to perform labor, overcome resistance and 
vanquish space. There was no appreciable iron trade anterior to the introduc- 
tion of the steam engine, an instrument of power deriving its efficiency almost 
entirely from co<zZ." 



108 Pittsburgh and Allegheny 

The connection of the past of Pittsburgh with the coal deposits of Pennsyl- 
vania, so rich and so easily mined, is too plain to need comment. Coal has-- 
been the life of the steam engine, and the steam engine has been the great 
power which has called into existence our manufactures. On the future of 
Pittsburgh as connected with her two minerals, we have no need to expatiate. 

"The employment of the combustible mineral, coal, in the smelting of iron^ 
has emancipated the iron manufactory. Henceforth the mineral comes to seek 
the fuel. 

'^Coal is the most essential agent of industry. The foundry, the iron, consti- 
tute merely the instruments, the elements of riches.""^ 

"The occurrence of iron ore associated with coal has been considered the 
most prolific source of commercial prosperity possessed by Great Britain. Her 
political economists have long been accustomed to ascribe the extent of her 
manufactories to the abundance and cheapness of both these substances, by 
which are furnished, not only fuel for working the steam engines which put in 
operation their machinery, but the material also for constructing the ma- 
chinery."! 

"Of all the physical circumstances which have contributed to our extraordi- 
nary progress in manufactures and industry, none have so much influence as our 
possession of valuable coal mines. "J 

"Since the invention of the steam engine, coal has become of the highest 
importance as a moving power, and no nation, however favorably situated in 
other respects, not plentifully supplied with this mineral, need hope to rival 
those that are, in most branches of manufactures.""'^ 

" Our coal mines have conferred a thousand times more real advantages upon 
us than we have reaped from the conquest of the Mogul Empire, or than we 
should have reaped from the conquests of Mexico and Peru. "J 

The remarks of the various writers we have quoted, ar6 overwhelmingly 
forcible in their application to Pittsburgh. It needs no drawing of inferences 
to sustain how powerfully the past of other localities of coal and of iron fore- 
tell the future of Pittsburgh. To her fuel power of the past is now to be added 
that of the gas previously mentioned, which, in point of quality and in respect 
to cheapness, will even surpass the advantage of coal. 

The coal areas of three of the various great manuiacturing nations of Europe 
need only to be compared with that of Pittsburgh's immediate fuel field, to see 
the relative position she holds to those as a producing centre, and as a possible 
rival. Great Britain had, according to Taylor, but 11,859 square miles of coal^ 
France but 1,719, and Belgium but 518, while Pennsylvania's coal area is given 
by various authorities at 15,000 square miles, or more than all those three great 
manufacturing nations combined; and of that 15,000 square miles, more than 

* Biilletin de la Commission Centerale do Statisque BruxellevS, 1843. 
t Ducatell's Report to Maryland Legislature, 1833. 
X McCuUongh's Statistics of English Manufactures. 



In the Centennial Year. 109 

two-thirds are almost literally under the feet of Pittsburgh, at least at her very 
•door, while the new element of natural gas is literally and truly under her feet 
in quantity and power. So far as enabling her to rival all competitors, this new 
fuel is equal to perhaps the whole force of even her great area of coal. 

When these two substances, iron and fuel, as in the location of Pittsburgh, 
combine with natural and artificial advantages, of great availability and extent 
for the distribution of their products, as well as easy, cheap, and rapid means of 
concentration at the manufacturing point of the raw material, can it be a sub- 
ject of hesitancy to decide upon the emploj^ment of capital in manufactures at 
this point? Says an authority we have already quoted, '' Production, which 
outstrips all local necessities, urgently demands new outlets. Embarrassment 
no longer attaches to production; the trouble rests henceforth with distribu- 
tion."! 

Possessed of a river navigation of many thousands of miles, reaching thereby 
nearly 400 counties, with their millions of population: penetrating by these 
avenues into 15 States of the Union : commanding three distinct avenues of access 
by water to the ocean : the terminus of an extensive rail road system, spreading 
its iron net work over eight States, and reaching hundreds of inland cities and 
towns, otherwise unapproachable, excepting by the stage coach and road wagons : 
Pittsburgh laughs at the last sentence of our quotation, ''The trouble rests 
henceforth with the distribution."' 

Proof, in her past, of the quotation from the same authority, that ''henceforth 
the mineral comes to seek the fuel : " Sustained in her expectancies of the future 
hj the experiences of the past of the cities and towns of other nations having 
coal formations ; triumphant in her geographical position over the troubles of 
distribution; what city, what locality, offers such bright features for examination 
by the capitalist, the merchant, the mechanic, the laborer? What point presents 
greater inducements to labor, to skill, to ability and to capital ? 



t Commission Centrale de Statisque, Bruxelles, 1848. 



110 Pittsburgh and Allegheny 



CHAPTER X 



MANUFACTURING ADVANTAGES. 



By reference to the chapter of this Yolume treating of the geographical posi- 
tion of Pittsburgh, it will be observed that, in the very important requisite of 
natural and cheap channels for the distribution of productions, Pittsburgh is 
possessed of remarkable advantages. A similar reference to the exhibition of 
the Pittsburgh railway system will show, that in her artificial avenues for distri- 
bution, there is an equal superiority of position. By that reference it will be 
observed that through her river channels, she reaches from her own site, an. 
extent of country embracing more than 1,000 000 square miles, over which she 
has unlimited powers for distributing her manufactures to the populous cities^ 
growing towns, and thriving villages, which are profusely located throughout it; 
and that by her rail road system, she possesses almost equal facilities for distri- 
bution. 

This power of distribution is in itself an advantage of great weight, without 
which the ability to produce copiously and cheaply would be of less worth. It 
stands in the same relation that ability to send his crops readily to the best 
market does with the agriculturist. It would matter not how bountifully the earth 
might yield of its grains and fruits, if the carriage to consumers was difficult 
slow and costly. The gains would be small, and the amount disposed of limitedj 
while some more favorably situated section would obtain the trade. Not only is 
facility of distribution of much consideration, but centrality of location to the 
market to be supplied is of equal desirability. Transportation to a wide circum- 
ference is easy, when but half diameters are traversed to reach any point of the 
circle ; thus greatly reducing transportation expenses in the aggregate carriage 
to a broad market. Pittsburgh not only possesses that centrality of position^ 
but combines it with such remarkably comprehensive lines of transportation, 
that probably no city is possessed of equal advantages. This an examination of 
her geographical position and her railway system, shows. A broad market is a 
great basis to the encouragement of manufactures; and where the possession of 
such a market is accompanied by easy reach to all its points, through but com- 
parative short distances of carriage, an advantage of great value is held. 

After the power of distribution, the next point which attracts the attention 
of the observant person, is the position which Pittsburgh occupies for the easy 
reception of the staple materials of the country. By the Pennsylvania Central 
Rail Road, the Pittsburgh & Erie Rail Road, the Pittsburgh & Connellsville Rail 



In the Centennial Year, 111 

Road, the Allegheny Valley Railroad, and the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers, 
Pittsburgh penetrates into the entire iron regions of Pennsylvania, in every direc- 
tion. When it is considered that there are but eight counties out of the sixty-two 
in the State that are incapable of the production of iron, the body of iron, and the 
variety of ores, and the consequent character of the metal, which, as it were, 
immediately surrounds Pittsburgh, is apparent. To this vast amount of material, 
Pittsburgh has full access; and as already specified, great facilities for the trans- 
portation of the mineral from the furnaces to her rolling mills and foundries, 
or of the raw ores from their deposits to her own furnaces. In addition to 
the Pennsylvania ore deposits, which are just beginning to be developed, she 
has equal facilities for receiving the products of the eastern Ohio iron fur- 
naces, by transportation over the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago, the 
Pittsburgh and Cleveland, the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and St. Louis Railway, 
and the Ohio river. The Ohio river gives also cheap facilities for receiving the 
products of the Tennessee and Kentucky furnaces, and the ores and metals of 
Missouri. While the lakes, with their cheap water carriage, and the short 
portage of the Cleveland & Pittsburgh Railroad, give equal advantages for obtain- 
ing the metals of Lake Superior. 

The Allegheny river and the Allegheny Valley railroad, penetrating one of 
the finest wooded districts in the country, give to Pittsburgh enviable facilities 
for cheap transportation from that district of such timber as the various manu- 
factures in wood which have and may arise demand. The Monongahela river, 
now, and the Pittsburgh, Virginia and Charleston railroad, more fully in the 
future, will give facilities for obtaining the fine timber of Western Virginia ; and 
this latter road access likewise to the rich and desirable ores of that section. 
For foreign wood the Pennsylvania Central railroad, connecting with the eastern 
seaboard, and the Chesapeake and Ohio canal, connecting, by the Pittsburgh and 
Connellsville railroad to this city, with the south-eastern sea-coast, afford cheap 
a transportation of such quantities as may be required. For wool, hemp, cotton, 
and in fact any of the staples of the various sections of the Union, the exhibit 
which is already given of our rivers and our railways shows how readily they 
can be laid down in Pittsburgh, and how cheaply. 

In the reception of material the same advantage of centrality of position 
obtains as in the distribution of it in its manufactured forms, producing, in the 
combination of lessened expense, of reception in crude forms, and of re-distribu- 
tion in finished shapes, a great general advantage not to be too highly valued, 
and one at all times powerful in holding position against competition. 

After the facilities for the distribution of productions and the reception of 
material, the next important quality in creating and continuing a great manu- 
facturing city is fuel. 

There is no point combining, as Pittsburgh does, the two first necessary ad- 
vantages, that posesses the last in so valuable a shape. Other cities may obtain 
coal of a good quality and in quantities; yet the advantage remains with Pitts- 



112 Pittsburgh and Allegheny 

burgh, from the easy access which is had to it, and the consequent cheapness of 
the article. To manufacture in Pittsburgh there need be, from the location of 
the coal strata and the advantageous sites for factories at this point, little or no 
cost for the transportation of fuel. The coal lies in the hills from one to two 
hundred feet above the bottom lands, on which the factories being located the 
coal can be sent down by cars directly into the yards thereof. On the left bank 
of the Monongahela, and within the city limits, the coal lies 200 feet above the 
level of the river bank, and is in a number of instances sent down into the mills 
and foundries in the manner described, in which cases the cost of fuel is only 
-about* eighty cents per ton of 2,000 pounds. Where from any cause the factory 
is located in such a manner that advantage cannot be taken of these unparalleled 
facilities for fuel, the cost of coal delivered in the yards of the mills, foundries, 
&c., is only from |1.31 to |1.50 per ton ; and contracts have been made at $1.16 
and |1.20. There is a large extent of ground suitable for all descriptions of 
manufactories, where, as previously stated, coal can be sent down into the yards 
at a cost not above $1.00 per ton of twenty-five bushels, and down to eighty 
cents. In any article which requires for its manufacture large quantities of 
fuel, the great advantage gained by this easy obtainance of fuel, and the almost 
nominal cost per bushel or ton, is decisive as to the advantage of the location. 

All this advantage of coal fuel Pittsburgh has possessed in the years that 
have passed, and still maintains. Of late years a new substance has literally 
arisen, which seems destined to place Pittsburgh beyond the power of comj^eti- 
tion, so far as fuel is the controlling power, which it is where great quantities 
are requisite in the manufacture of articles. 

This new substance is the natural gas that has been found in the petroleum 
regions of Pennsylvania. The immense quanties of this substance that rushes 
up through the holes or wells that have been sunk, is almost beyond comprehen- 
sion. It is presumed to be inexhaustable. Similar escapes of a like gas in 
Asiatic Europe, on the borders of the Caspian Sea, are known to have continued 
for hundreds of years, without apparent diminution. For the manufacture of 
metals, this gas, by reason of its purity of flame, strength of heat, and absence 
of sulphur or other deleterious ingredients, is without a peer. Some of the 
largest veins that have been struck, are within a comparatively short distance of 
Pittsburgh, and pipes from one of these wells has been laid a distance of some 
seventeen miles, to the iron works of Spang, Chalfant & Co., the Isabella Fur- 
nace and the iron mills of GrrafF, Bennett & Co., in all three of which the gas is 
Tused as a fuel in the place of coal. At the iron works of Rodgers & Burchfield, 
a gas well within a quarter of a mile of the mill, was utilized a year or more 
ago, and its success full}^ demonstrated. But upon that point there is no ques- 
tion. The quality of iron made by it is greatly superior to that treated with 
coal. Increased quality combined with decreased cost of fuel, is the result where 
this new fuel is used. Such a combination creates a manufacturing advan- 
tage that seems to set at defiance any competition, and opens to Pittsburgh, in 



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In the Centennial Year. 113 

the contest of the United States for foreign markets, just now begun, a wonder- 
ful advantage in the production of articles where cost of fuel and superiority 
of quality by use of superior heats, enters into the cheap production and its 
consequent ability to control markets. The probability that exists from many 
indications that this supply of natural gas is not merely in the counties of 
Western Pennsylvania, where petroleum is obtained, but is under the very sur- 
face on which the manufactories of Pittsburgh stand, is a still further advantage, 
as it will not need to be brought from a distance in pipes, but procured at the 
immediate side of the fires it is to supply. Rushing up from the depths of the 
«arth by its own force, the cost of fuel, when once the well is sunk, is nothing. 

This advantage of fuel, without the ability to distribute widely and cheaply, 
and to receive raw materials from a distance easily and cheaply, would of course 
be in itself, isolated from the other two, of little or no value ; nor would they 
-without the other, be of the same force or value; but such a combination of 
these three, as exists at Pittsburgh is, beyond disputation, unsurpassed — perhaps 
tinparalleled. 

Coal is being found in many localities, where twenty years ago it was not 
supposed to exist, and methods of treating it so that its impurities will have les3 
effect upon the metals and ores, subjected to its flames, have been devised ; but 
in that there is additional expense which still increases the cost of fuel, while in 
no case has the same facility for obtaining the fuel been realized. The natural 
gas may perhaps be obtained in other sections ; but where there are indications 
that such may be the case, the other combinations of material, especially in irons 
-and distribution facilities do not exist. With the growth of the country compe- 
tition must naturally arise, but a great manufacturing community is not born in 
a day. It has taken Pittsburgh over fifty years to attain her proportions, and 
gather around her the facilities of skilled workmen, experience, reputation, and 
varied factories, whose facilities are each a support to the other. The ease with 
which the government, in the late war, was able to have furnished without de- 
lay, at Pittsburgh, a great variety of munitions of war; to build armed and iron 
plated ships; to obtain cannon, and have them rifled; to have shot and shell 
cast, ambulances, gun carriages and army wagons built; all without the loss of 
time in the construction by it of a workshop or machinery for the manufacture 
of those articles, shows forcibly what power, facility and ability there is in a 
long established manufacturing community. 

This is another advantage that Pittsburgh possesses which needs no dilating 
upon, and must in all competitions give her superiority. Possessed of great 
natural advantages, she has strengthened these by fifty years of accumulation of 
those artificial advantages of varied machinery, masses of skilled workmen, and 
diverse kind of manufactories, which like the various corps of a well ordered 
army, support one another and give power and endurance to the whole. 

In all competitions with fresh competitors, Pittsburgh stands in the relation., 
that a well constructed, well organized, well located, well equipped manufactory, 
8 



114 



Pittsburgh and Allegheny 



with ample capital and great facilities, surrounded by a population of skilled 
workmen, does to one less favorably located, with inferior facilities, freshly es- 
tablished, wanting experience, and deficient in mechanical knowledge and skill 
to draft from. With Pittsburgh it is not the ability in any competitions that may 
arise to maintain her past superiority, it is simply the will so to do. The power- 
she has, and competition will only bring out the will to maintain her own, under 
which competition will benefit rather than impair. 

Returning from this illustration of the advantage of long established facili- 
ties and years of acquired "skill, a few more sentences may well be given to the 
presentation of the advantage of coal fuel, that being so primarily the germ of 
manufacturing greatness. 

The quality of the coal of the Pittsburgh seam is so well understood by all 
manufacturers, that descriptions of its adaptations w-ould be almost superfluous. 
The following table, however, presenting a few results from various analyses 
which have been made, is given in order that a comparison can more readily be 
instituted as to Pittsburgh and other western cities, in the one item of manufac- 
turing — fuel. 



Pennsylvania. Carbon. 


Volatile 
matter. 


Ashes. 


Pounds of Steam 
at 212° per 
cubic feet. 


Specific 
gravity. 


Weight Of 

cubic yard ^, 

pounds. 


Pittsburgh, . 


. . 60.14 


36.46 


3.40 


384.1 


1,265 


2,134 


Somerset Co.,^ 


. 69.13 


19.50 


10.68 


410.9 


1,382 


2,332 


Mercer Co., . 


. . 57.80 


40.50 


1.70 


370.0 


1,275 




Venango Co., 


. 49.80 


43.20 


7.00 


350.0 






Beaver Co., . 


. . 30.12 


36.00 


38.88 


195.0 






Virginia. 














Wheeling, 


. 52.03 


44.04 


3.93 


362.0 


1,230 


2,075' 


Kanawha Salines 


3, . 51.60 


47.10 


2.30 


332.0 


1,250 


2,10^ 


Kentucky. 














Breckenridge,f 


. . 27.16 


64.29 


8.47 








Henderson, . 


. 54.29 


42.56 


3.15 








Hawsville,-}- . 


. . 47.00 


46.00 


7.00 


299^0 


1,250 


2,106; 


Caseyville, 


. . 44.49 


31.82 


23.69 


286.0 


1,392 


2,347 


Bell's Seam, . 


. 60.14 


36.46 


3.40 


384.0 






Ohio. 














Pomeroy, . . . 


. 47.72 


39.29 


12.90 


305.0 


1,357 


2,313' 


Indiana. 














Cannelton,f . 


. . 59.47 


36.59 


3.49 


348.8 






Rockport, . . 


. . 45.00 






292.0 






Missouri. 














Calloway,J 


. . 40.83 


40.05 


13.12 









* This Coal comes into the Pittsburgh market via the Pittsburgh and Connellaville Railroad^ 
"which passes through the county. 
+ Cannel Coal. 
I Above St. Louis, and Cannel "Coal. 



In the Centennial Year. 11& 

The value of coal as a fuel, or as a generator of steam, depends very essen- 
tially upon the quantity of fixed carbon which it contains. As a general rule in 
the manufacture of iron, the quantity of coal is necessarily augmented in the* 
same ratio that the yield of carbon is diminished. The same is the case where 
the manufacture of glass is concerned, and, in fact, wherever heat is a requisite 
in manufacturing. 

Following those great essentials, reception of material, distribution of pro- 
ducts and cheapness of fuel, comes cheapness and eligibility of sites for 
manufactories. 

In Pittsburgh locations for building, combining the requisites of space, water, 
transportation facilities, and the best of those advantages already mentioned for 
obtaining fuel, are to be had in every direction around the two cities and the 
suburbs, at very reasonable prices and on accommodating terms. 

On both sides of the Allegheny river run railroads, also on both sides of the 
Monongahela. Between the two runs the Pennsylvania railroad, while the 
Pittsburgh, Ft. Wayne & Chicago railway passes through nearly the entire length 
of Allegheny city. Along all these lines sites for factories are abundant, where 
facilities for the receiving of fuel and materials into the very mills and other 
workshops direct from the cars exists. Into many of those which are now con- 
structed along these lines, side tracks run directly into the factory yards. Along 
the Monongahela or Allegheny shipment, direct from the factories, by either 
water or rail, is practical and daily practiced. This facility has so much in- 
creased in the past ten years as to have caused almost a total abandonment of 
maintaining large warehouses by manufacturers, nearly all shipments being made 
from the factories, effecting a large saving in rents, which is not without its 
power in holding trade under close competitions. 

In intimate connexion with the advantages belonging to Pittsburgh is the 
salubrity of the location. The tables of mortality treating upon this are con- 
clusive of the superiority on this point of this community; and, without doubt, 
the great health possessed by this manufacturing population weighs heavily in 
the summing up of the advantages of this location as a manufacturing point. 
Not only to the workman is the health of his family and of himself of importance, 
but to the manufacturer as well. The loss of income by three or four weeks sick- 
ness suffered by a workman, or by the increased demands upon his earnings from 
frequent illness in his family, is seriously felt in the consequent deprivation of 
comforts, which the money lost from lost time, and necessarily expended in drugs 
and doctors' bills, would purchase. The lessening of such misfortunes is an.^. 
object in the selection of his place of toil. To the manufacturer, whose profitsq 
often depend upon the skilled and unbroken labor of a set of hands, the losQ-jer 
from the forced substitution of green hands for competent ones, or the raggedq 
running of his machinery from the forced depletion of his working force^ bgr-t 
illness, is also, especially if occurring when his order books are full, Sigte^iSt 
injury, not only to his profits, but to the smooth working of his business. 



116 Pittsburgh and Allegheny 

To the employer, therefore, as well as the employee, is the healthfulness of a 
location a subject of careful consideration ; and there is no point, as statistics 
show, in the United States, possessed of all or any of the requisites for support- 
ing a manufacturing community, which can in any way compare with Pitts- 
burgh, for salubrity. 

The cheapness with which workmen can live is another point in manufactur- 
ing advantages. In this respect Pittsburgh compares favorably with other cities ; 
a majority of the articles of food are low in prices, and articles of clothing as 
cheap as in any of the large Eastern cities. In fuel the cost is not more than 
half as in either Eastern or Western manufacturing communities ; while rents 
are much less than in other large cities. 

From this brief sketch of some of the manufacturing advantages of Pittsburgh, 
it is apparent that there are three advantages of cheapness— those of fuel, mate- 
rial and living; three of position- — those of reception, distribution, and manufac- 
turing sites; three of health — unbroken labor, lessened expenses, and increased 
income. 

The cost of manufacturing, from these advantages and many others of a minor 
character, is so lessened in Pittsburgh, that it may safely be called the cheapest 
point of the United States for the manufacturing of most articles, especially those 
in which iron, wood, cotton, wool and fuel are important components. 

A writer in ''Rees' Encyclopedia," at an early date, in mentioning the ad- 
vantages of this location, says — ''The cotton of the Ohio and Mississippi, the 
hemp of Kentucky, the ore of the vast iron district, near Pittsburgh, the abun- 
dance of material for glass, will undoubtedly lead the people of that place to 
rival Manchester in cotton goods, Birmingham in iron, Russia in hemp, and 
Germany in glass." 

Among the powers used in manufacturing, that of steam is preeminent, and 
its advantage being in proportion to its cost, its value is great or small over 
other kinds of power according to its cheapness. At Pittsburgh so cheap is the 
article of fuel, that steam becomes the prevalent power. 

. The cost of material for the erection of the various species of manufactures 
is so low at this point, that a desirable advantage is gained here from the re- 
duced cost of building. All such component parts of manufactories, as wood^ 
brick, glass and iron, are cheap, and labor is reasonable, in fact low in compar- 
ison with some other points. 

Lumber is worth from $18 to $20 per thousand feet; shingles, |3 per thous- 
and; glass, 12 by 20, sixty lights to the 100 feet, $6.50 per 1000 feet; bricks, $6 
per thousand; castings are worth from $50 to $60 per ton; forged ironwork 
about $100 per ton; lime 18 cents per bushel; white lead, $2.75 per keg of 25 lbs.; 
planed flooring, $25 per thousand; sash averages 6 cents alight; doors, $3 each; 
tin, -J X $12 per box; sheet copper, 32 cents per lb.; brass castings, 25 cts. per 
rb.; bar iron, $46 per ton; sheet iron, $80 per ton; nails, $3 to $5 a keg of 100 



In the Centennial Year. 117 

. » 

lbs.; spikes, $3J to |5J a keg of 100 lbs.; slating, with copper nails, $10 to $11 
per square of ten feet. 

The chapter treating of mechanics' wages furnishes data for estimates of the 
expense for mechanical and manual labor in erecting buildings in this vicinity, 
and the capitalist or manufacturer can from those and the data already given, at 
once discern the extent of th-e advantage gained in Pittsburgh by facilities and 
cheapness for erection of building. 

There are in Pittsburgh abundant openings for manufacturing enterprises, 
which will not fail to be highly remunerative if properly conducted. There is 
business and demand for more manufactories — in iron, glass, wood, cotton, woolj 
and in fact every staple of the country; and for the capitalist and mechanic, 
there is no point in the Union where skill and money can be more profitably 
employed than at Pittsburgh. 

Especially are there openings for the establishment of factories in which the 
leading staples can be transmuted into the various forms for the daily use of 
life. The iron, the steel, the copper, and the glass of Pittsburgh is sent to many 
sections of the United States, to be re-manufactured into scores of articles, which 
would be cheaper made on the spot where the staples themselves are produced. 

In this respect there is much room for the establishment of manufactories at 
Pittsburgh. To the capitalist desirous of investing money, the mechanic of 
employing skill, and the merchant of exerting ability, a closer and personal ex- 
amination into the subjects treated of in this volume will be undoubtedly ad- 
vantageous. 



118 Pittsburgh and Allegheny 



CHAPTER XI. 



LUMBER AND ITS PRODUCTS. 



The incident which it is just to consider as the commencement of that valua- 
ble portion of the business of Pittsburgh, the lumber trade, is thus recorded in 
^'Craig's History of Pittsburgh:" 

''Major Thomas Butler, then commanding (1795) at Franklin, had informed 
Major Craig that the verj worthy and excellent Seneca Chief, Cornplanter, or 
Gyantawachia, as his name was spelled in signing the treaty, had at his saw-mill 
a large quantity of boards — an article much wanted for the service of the public. 
The Major therefore immediately dispatched Marcus Hulings, an experienced 
waterman, with three bags of money and some other articles, up the river to 
his place, to purchase all the lumber. Hearing the next day that some private 
persons had gone on the same errand, the Major dispatched James Beard, a 
trusty person, on horseback, with a letter informing Cornplanter of Hulings' 
object. Beard arrived in time and secured the lumber. The following is the 
reply of Cornplanter given verbatim et Uteratum: 

''Genesadego, 3d December, 1*795. 

'^I thank the States for making me such kind ofers. We have made peace 
with the United States as long as watter runs, which was the reason that I built 
a mill in order to suport my family by it. More so because I am getting old and 
not able to hunt. I also thank the States for the pleashure I now feel in meet- 
ing them again in friendship. You have sent a man to make a bargain with me 
for a sertain time which I donot like to do.. But as long as my mill makes 
boards the United States shall always have them in preference to any other, at 
the market price, and when you want no more boards I cant make blankets 
of them. As for the money you sent if I have not boards to the amount leave it 
and I will pay it in boards in the spring." 

The rest of the chiefs letter as not apposite to this subject, is omitted. 

In 1807 there were in Pittsburgh four lumber yards. 

In 1812 the quantity of lumber brought down the Allegheny river and in- 
spected at Pittsburgh, was 7,000,000 feet — worth about $70,000. 

In 1817 we find the following recor^ in Cramer's Almanack, of the timber 
trade of the Allegheny river. 

''On Brokenstraw creek, Warren county, Pennsylvania, are fifteen saw mills, 
some of which use eleven saws. They cut on an average 3,000 feet of boards & 
day, and can be worked eight months in the year, making about 9,450,000 feet 



In the Centennial Year. 



11» 



Annually, worth in Pittsburgh, $100,000. On the Conewango, which rises in the 
.State of New York, and empties into the Allegheny river above Brokenstraw, in 
the same county, our informant assures us that more than twice that quantity of 
lumber is sawed." 

This account would make the lumber business of the Allegheny river then, 
And consequently of Pittsburgh, as at that period the product of all those mills 
was floated to this city, worth |300,000, and the number of mills about forty- 
five, producing 28,350,000 feet of lumber. 

In 1831 the amount annually brought down the Ohio is estimated in ''Peck's 
Guide" at 30,000,000 feet, worth in the neighborhood of $300,000. 

The increased demand consequent upon the rapid progress of the population 
of the Ohio Valley and the manufactures of Pittsburgh, rapidly swelled the 
;amount of lumber annually cut on the Allegheny and its tributaries, until the 
amount of lumber run from that section and sawed upon their banks, increased 
to an immense amount. About one-half of the entire '-cut" of the mills was 
-consumed at Pittsburgh; the remaining half is taken to ports below and sold. 

Of late years the supply from that section has not increased, but the amount 
qised in the city and manufacture has largely increased. The supply is aug- 
mented by receipts from the western counties of Pennsylvania, through which 
runs the Pennsylvania Railroad, also from the Lakes. 

There are, in the two cities, the following saw mills and lumber yards, — the 
two being grouped together by reason of diffiulty of separating their statistics : 



Style of Firm. 


Locaiion. 


Established by. 


Date. 


Ed. Alcott. . . . 


Fiftieth st. . . . 


Ed. Alcott 


1873 


vGeo. Dithridge & Co. 




Geo. Dithridge & Co. 


1873 


.S. k W. H. Martin. . 


258 Fifth av. . . 


S. & W. H. Martin, . 


1865 


Edward Bindley. 


274 Fifth ay. . . 


Jno. C. Bindley. . . 


1832 


Robt. Fair. . . . 


Penn & Hiland avs, e < 


3 Robt. Fair 


1876 


-Mellon Bros. . . . 


Station st., e e 


Mellon Bros. . . . 


1865 


McCullough & Smith. 


226 Penn av. . . 


• McCullough & Smith, 


1869 


.Jas. Gillespie. . . 


2 1st and Railroad sts 


Gillespie & Mitchell, . 


1859 


McQuewq-n & Douglass 


57 Penn st. 


McQuewan & Douglass 


1832 


Wm. Dilworth, Jr. . . 


7th av. and Grant st 


Thos. Scott. . . . 


1856 


H. M. Leonard. . . 


173 Penn st. . . 


Dennis Leonard. . . 


1821 


Willis Boothe. . . 


43d and Railroad sts 


Willis Boothe. . . . 


1841 


'G. A. Mundorf, . . . 


23d and Mary sts., s s 






,Bichey, Smith & Co. 


Corry & Killbuck sts 


Richey & Finkbine. . 


1866 


D. L. Patterson. . . 


74 Beaver av. . . 


Simpson & Patterson. 


1836 


Phillips & Mittenzwey. 


19th and River, s s 


Phillips k Mittenzwey. 


1858 


W. S. Tupy. . . . 


11 Darrah st. . . 


W. S. Tupy 


1874 


X. F. Martin 


109 Lacock st. . 


L. F. Martin. . . . 


1873 


JEuwer Bros 


Craig & Killbuck sts 


D. Euwer & Son. . . 


1850 


B, P. Rynd 


74 Irwin av. . . 


B. F. Rynd 


1874 



120 



Pittsburgh and Allegheny 



style of Firm. 
McKirdy & McGinness 
John Naulz. . . . 
Jas. McBrier. . . 
McBrier, Dean & Co. 
Kopp & Yoegtley. . 
Rudolph (fe Zchudy. 

L. Estein 

F. Becker. . . . 
C. C. Boyle &; Co. . 
Leonard, Walter & Son 
Geo. Kim & Co. . 
J. G. Fleishman. 
Alex. McClure & Co. 



Locatiou. 
180 Sandusky st. 
69 Third st. ... 
191 Sandusky st. 
Herr's Island. . . . 
Main & Sycamore sts. 
Ohio St. & Church ay. 
369 Ohio St. . . . 
100 East St. . . . 
Sandusky st & River ay 
115 River av. . . . 
Carson st. . . . . 
26th and Water sts. . 



Established by 


Date.. 


McKirdy & McGinness 


, 1860 


John Naulz. . . . 


1866- 


Wm. McBrier. . . 


1835 


A. H. Harvey & Co. 


1850 


Painter & Warren. 


1837 


Rudolph & Zchudy. 


. 1866. 


L. Estein. . . . 


1872 


F. Becker. . . . 


1863 


Brewster & Watson. 


1840 


Leonard, Walter & Soe 


L 1866 


Geo. Kim & Co. 


. 1861 


Young & Fleishman 


1862.' 


McClintock k Co. . 


1840' 



27th and Railroad sts 

These thirty-four firms employ 291 men, whose wages amount to $145,635. 
They use 55 horses and 43 wagons, and piles and saw over 55,000,000 feet of 
lumber, principally pine and hemlock; also about 15,000,000 lathes and 13,000,- 
000 shingles. The value of this at the rates of the past year, is in the neigh- 
hor of |1, 370, 000. The area of ground occupied is equal to sixty-three acres. 

There are also thirty-eight establishments in which flooring boards, window- 
frames, sash and door, and packing boxes are manufactured. The following 
table shows their location, date of establishment, etc., of these 



Planing Mills, Sash and Door and Box Eactories. 



Style of Firm. 


Location. 






Established by. 


Date 


Alex. Patterson. 


123 Preble av. 




A. Patterson. . . . 


18.66- 


Mullen, Steen & Co. . 


66 Lacock st. . . 






Mullen, Steen & Co. . 


1872 


Jas. Stedeford & Co. . 


106 North av. . . 






Lamb & Son. 




Trimble & Co. . . . 


245 Beaver av. 






Gillian, Trimble & Co 


laei 


Alex. Campbell. . . 


Manchester. . 






Alex. Campbell. . 


1870* 


Jno. B. Ingham & Son. 


417 Rebecca st. 






J. B. Ingham. . . 


1848: 


J. C. Patterson & Co. 


217 Lacock st. 






J. & A. Patterson. 


1835 


Barker & Burton. . 


44 Anderson st. 






Reed & McCombs. . 


1844 


Charles & Co. . . 


288 North av. . 


. 




Charles & Co. . . 


1846 


M. Simon 


Anderson & Robin 


son 


Thompson & Phillips 


. 1,862 


Grusch, Remming- \ 
snyder & Co. . j 


75 Third st., Alle 


gheny 


Grusch, Remming- ") 
snyder & Co. . / 


1867 


Chambers, Yandevort& 


Co Pennsylvania av. 


. 


Cochran Bros. . . 


. 1846 


Geo. Noll. ..... 


Cherry and Main 


st 


. 


Gregg & Dalzell. . 


. 1864 


H. Omslaer . . . 


390 River av. . 


. 


. 


Jno. Morrison. . . 


. 1846 


Reed Bros. 


323 River av. . 


. 


. 


Reed Bros. . . . 


. 1866 


Murphy k Dieboid. . 


36th ward, s s 




. 


Burt, Baker & Bros. 


. 1870 


Oreene & Coyle. 


Walnut & Bridge 


,Si 


5 


Burtj Baker & Bros. 


. 187^. 



In the Centennial Year. 



121 



Style of Firm. 


Location. 


Established by 


Date. 


Paul, Cook & Co. . . 


46th and Hatfield sts Paul, Miller & Co. 


1870 


McKimmon & Milligan. 


872 Penn av. . . 


W. W. Rodgers & Co 


1862 


Robt. Marshall. . . . 


7th and Bedford avs 


Marshall & Kerr. . 


1863 


Hill, Patterson & Co. . 


Old av. and Boyd st 


Hill, Patterson & Co 


1866 


W. F. Richardson. . . 


48 Water st. . . 


W. F. Richardson. 


1858 


A. Lewis. . . . . . 


Grant and 7th av. . 


Hill & McClure. . 


1854 


Slack & Sholes. . . . 


Third st. and Penn a^ 


Slack & Sholes. . 


1864 


J. W. Miller & Co. . . 


1st and Penn sts. 




1825 


Heath & Speer. . . . 


3d St. & Duquesne wa;; 


r Heath & Co. . . . 


1856 


Wm. Dilworth, Jr. . . 


7th av. and Grant st 


Wm. Dilworth, Jr. 


1875 


Kelly & Evans. . . . 


Seventh av. . . 


J. D. k A. Kelly. . 


1868 


B. Schmidt & Co. . . 


31st and Penn. . 


Pearson & Co. . . 


1862 


Geo. McKee 


33d and Penn. . 


McKee & Douglass. 


1865 


Saml. Logan. . . . 


26th and Penn. . 


Robt. Hill. . . . 


1857 


James B. Hill. 


953 Penn. . . . 


Jas. B. Hill. . . 


1869 


James H. Low. . . . 


953 Penn. . . . 


James H. Low. . . 


1852 


G. A. Mundorf. . . . 


23d and Mary sts. 






South Side Plan'g Mill Co 


20th and Mary sts. 


South Side P.M. Co. 


1871 


Hahn, Harms & Co. . 


17th and Jane sts. 


Hahn, Harms & Co. 


1874 


Union Planing Mill Co. 


18th St. and Fox ay 


Union P. M. Co. . 


186& 


A. Hays & Co. . . . 


13th and Water. . 


Jas. Hays. . . . 


1856 


South Pitts.Plan'g Mill Co 


3d and Chestnut sts 


South Pitts. P. M. Co 


1871 



These 38 firms employ 821 hands, whose wages amount to |462,966. Thej 
use 99 horses and 97 wagons. They consume 14,400 pounds of glue, 418 reams 
sand paper, 19,400 bushels of coal, 7,499 kegs of nails; and use 62 planers, 39- 
mortising machines, 34 tenoning machines, 253 saws, 60 moulders, 9 flooring- 
machines, 5 sand papering machines, 20 blind tappers, 20 shapers, 3 pannel rais- 
ers, — in all, 394 machines used in the production of doors, sashes and flooring. 
They use 52,500,606 feet of lumber; and their products amount to $2,000,000.. 
There is $894,703 capital in the buildings and machinery of the 38 establish- 
ments, which occupy an area of 49 acres. 

The statistics of the two foregoing branches of the lumber trade strictly, are^ 
assigned in their aggregates as nearly as possible to the branch to which they 
properly belong. In some cases the same firm carry on all the branches, and a 
further sub-division could not be arrived at, although it would perhaps be satis- 
tory to ascertain what were the statistics of each class of manufactures. It will 
be seen, however, that the direct lumber trade of the city is an important one ; 
comprising 72 establishments, whose aggregate business is nearly three and a 
half millions of dollars, employing over eleven hundred men, and paying out 
over |600,000 of wages, and occupying 112 acres of ground in their works. 



122 



Pittsburgh and Allegheny 



Carriage and Wagon Manufacturing 

Is another branch of Pittsburgh products that properly comes under the classi- 
fication of Lumber. Of this branch there is 



Stylo of Firm. 

F. W. Sawert & Co 
J. G. Wier & Bros. 
J. W. Moore & Co. 
Wm. McCallen. . 
H. Lange & Bro. 
Henry Schafer. . 
Chas. Blank. . . 
Jas. Miller. . . 
Jno. Krebs. . . 
Jacob Rush & Bro. 
J. Albert & Bro. 
Sam'l Blanck. . 
Wier & Shuman. 
W. H. Cullers. . 
Pitts. Wagon Works. 
Oass & Walter. . 
Prederick Bechner 
West & Yogler, . 
P. & W. Beckert, 
R. W. Hare. . . 
H. R. Davis. . . 
L. Gleisencamp & Co. 
Sander, Lowden & Co 

G. A. Schnabel. . . 

D. Gum 

C. West & Co. . . 
C. Coleman & Son. 
JKnoch & Lang. . . 
Gabriel Manf g Co. 
A. Kruts 



Location. 
Penn av. and Eleanor 
Wash'gton & Poplar 
857 Liberty av. . 
250 Fifth ave. . . 
11 Diamond st. . , 
19 Diamond st. . 
1210 Bingham st. 
11th & Washington 
Smallman st. . . 
304 Fifth av. . . 
Penn and Hiland av 
Penn av, e e. . . 
68 Ridge avenue. 
18 Fayette st. . . 
180 Beaver av. . 
401 Beaver av. 
Park way. . 
257 Robinson st. . 
340 Ohio St. . . 
162 Penn av. . . 
147 Penn av. . . 
75 Liberty st. . . 
6th & Duquesne way 
31st and Penn av. 
1146 Penn av. 
Duquesne way & Evans ay. 
near Suspe'n Bridge 
15 Sandusky st. . 
Jane and 18th sts.. 



Established by 
Sweeny, Skelton & Co. 
J. G. Wier. . . . 
G. A. Glages. . . 
Wm. McCallen. . 
Jacob Maeier. . . 
Dickenbach & Myers. 
Chas. Blank. . . 
Jas. Miller. . . . 

J. Krebs 

Jacob Rush & Bro. 
Christ. Albert. . . 
Sam'l Blanck. . . 

A. Kirk 

W. H. Lullers, . . 
Jno. Sampson. . . 
Gass & Walter, 
F. Bechner, . . . 
West k Yogler, 
F. Beckert k Son. 
R. W. Hare. . . . 
Campbell k Stoner. 

C. West 

Sander k Boreland. 
M. Schnabel. . . 

D. Gum 

C. West 

Coleman k Kirk. . 
Knoch k Lang. 
Dudenburg k Franze 
A. Kruts 



Date, 
1869 
1858 
1869 
1874 
1862 
1860 
1874 
1866 
1869 
1876 
1862 
1874 
1865 
1868 
1832 
1872 
1860 
1871 
18^8 
1865 
1865 
1847 
1864 
1861 
1871 
1847 
1859 
1869 
1864 
1863 



45 Fourteenth.. . . 

These 29 establishments employ 400 hands, whose wages are |209,645. They 
consume $183,220 feet of the various descriptions of lumber; they use $12,000 
worth of cloths, $19,600 worth of springs and axles, $12,750 worth of paints 
.and varnishes, $43,500 of iron, $8,500 of leather; make and sell $479,000 of 
wagons and carriages. 

Of this class of manufactures there is but to say, that as fine carriages are 
produced as anywhere in the United States ; and the fame of Pittsburgh built 
wagons belongs to the early history of California, the Mexican war, and the war 



In the Centennial Year, 



123 



of the rebellion. In all these great episodes of the country's history, the wagon 
and carriage factories of Pittsburgh supplied largely the wants of the govern- 
ment and of the gold seekers. Baggage wagons, ambulances, artillery wagons, 
were all excellently made; and the skill of the mechanics of this branch of Pitts- 
burgh manufactures is fully equal to repeat in the future what they have done 
in the past. 

Furniture 

Manufacturing is not as largely carried on as in past years, although as greatly 
sold. There is certainly no better place to largely manufacture furniture: Pine, 
Walnut, Cherry, Ash, Chestnut, Maple, Oak and other woods, are all abundant; 
vrorkmen are plenty; and the means of shipping to the South and West by the 
rivers, at low freights, advantageous. There is no doubt that there are fine op- 
portunities at Pittsburgh for the establishment of furniture factories, with a view 
of supplying Southern and Western markets. 

There are now in Pittsburgh and Allegheny 11 manufactories, whose product 
is chiefly taken by the home demand. 

Style of Firm. 
Jos. Meyer k Son. . . 
Christian Wetzel. . . 
Close, Schoeneck & Co. 
O. H. Dauler & Sons. . 

F. G. Weise 

A. Milligan k Son. 
T. B. Young k Co. 

A. Ortlieb 

M. Seibert & Co. . . 
John M. Irwin. . . . 
Henry Henck. . . . 

These 11 factories employ 300 hands, whose wages amount to $184,000 yearly. 
They consume among other items over 1,000,000 feet of the various kinds of 
lumber; use upholstery goods to the value of $60,000; hardware to the amount 
of $35,000; marble to the sum of $10,000. The annual sales of these eleven es- 
tablishments amount to about $850,000, included in which, however, is some 
eastern work. In addition to this there are some ten other large furniture 
houses, whose stock is principally brought from the east, which do not claim to 
manufacture. These sales amount in the aggregate to about $500,000, and the 
entire furniture business of Pittsburgh and Allegheny may be stated at about 
$1,400,000. The manufacturing establishments occupy 110,677 square feet of 
area; and the capital in the machinery and buildings of their factories is over 
$200,000. 



Location. 


Established by 


Date. 


412 Penn ave. . . 


Jos. Meyer, . 


1845 


505 Penn ave. 


C. Wetzel. . . . 


1869 


10th and Penn av. 


W. E. Stevenson, . 


1837 


178 Smithfield st. 


Hammer & Dauler. 


1837 


Ill Fourth ave. . 


Jas. Lemon. . . . 




QQ Smithfield st. . . 


A. Milligan k Co. . 


1836 


21 Smithfield st. . 


T. B. Young k Co. 


1842 


90 Diamond. . . 


A. Ortlieb. . . . 


1874 


157 Grant st. . . 


C. Seibert k Co. . 


1852 


97 Smithfield st. . 


John M. Irwin. . . 


1842 


Washington. . 


Henry Henck. . 


1857 



124 



Pittsburgh and Allegheny 



Cooperages 
'Are another of the manufactures that come under the lumber classification. 
The exact products and consumptions of this branch of business is difficult to 
definitely state, as many of the oil refineries have extensive cooperages in con- 
nection with their works. To separate the men, material consumed, wages paid, 
and other statistics, from out of those of the refineries, could not satisfactorily be 
done. In the following list therefore only those that are independent of connec- 
tion with refineries are given. Of these there are nine : 



Style of Firm. 


Location. 


Established by. 


Date. 


J. M. Hemphill. . . 


112 North av. . . 


J. M. Hemphill. . 


186a 


C. Spratt. . . . ■ . 


3d and Middle sts. 


C. Spratt & Co. . 


1865> 


Wm. League. . . 


316 Penn av. . . 


Robinson & Riley. 


1862 


Geo. F. Schade. - . 


42d St 


Schade k Weigle. . 


.1866. 


Fred. Kober. . . 


Hickory ay. 


W. H. Aufderhaiser. 


1862 


John Wunderbech. 


3d and Ferry . . 


John Wunderbech. 


1859' 


Reed Bros. . . . 


323 River av. . . 


Reed Bros. . . . 


1873 


A. Claney. . . . 


26th and Smallman 


A. Clayney. . . . 




Alex. McClure. . . 


25th and Railroad. 


Poor & Reed. . . 


184a 



These nine establishments employ 334 hands, whose wages are about $160,- 
000. The proprietors give 512,000 barrels as the number manufactured in a 
year, and the value of their sales at $770,000, and their consumption of iron for 
hoops at $140,000. The cooperages occupy 203,436 square feet of ground. The 
statistics of this branch of Pittsburgh's manufactures is not full, by reason, a& 
before stated, of many of the refineries carrying on cooperages as a part of their 
establishments, and the failure to obtain from others returns. The figures here 
given can only be looked upon as fragmentary. There are in the city two 
dealers in oil barrels and staves, whose statistics properly belong to this division 
of Pittsburgh's manufactures. 

B. B. Moore Duquesne way. . . 1867. . . . B. B. Moore. 

Duncan & Thomson. . Duquesne way. . . 1872. Duncan & Thomson. 

These firms handle 400,000 new barrels yearly, and 8,000,000 staves. In 
addition to the above cooperage, there is a special establishment. 

The Pittsburgh Keg and Barrel Factory Company. 

This is a chartered company, with a capital stock of $100,000. They manu- 
facture barrels by a patent process, by which the whole barrel is simply one 
stave. The log from which the staves is to be made, is cut to the proper lergth^ 
and the lengths steamed. They are then run through a machine, the knife of 
which cuts a sheet from round the log. The circular slab thus taken off" is then 
run through other machines, which, by various cuts and shapings, gives the 
proper bilge and cuts the chimes for the heads. The capacity of the works is 
6,000 kegs and 1,000 barrels per day, and the establishment occupies a space of 



In the Centennial Year, 



125 



136x304 feet, and there is $70,000 capital in 
employed in the business. 

Another manufacture of lumber is 



the building and machinery 



Location. 


Established by. 


rear. 


QQ Lacock st. . . . 


Welsh & Co. . . 


. 1864 


144 Webster st. . . 


Wm. Peoples. . , 


. 1856 


Grant and 7th av. . 


Hill & McClure. . 


. 1854 


Penn and Third. . . 


Wm. Boyd. . . . 


. 1870 


Penn and 26th. . . 


W. H. Roessle. . . 


. 1873 



Stair Building. 
In latter years this branch of business has become quite an art. In the growing 
regard for architectural effects in building, which has increased with the wealth 
of the country and the ability of those building private dwellings to study taste 
and effect, rather than cost, the business of stair building has progressed a long 
distance from the clumsy, steep, tiresome stairs of early days. There are in 
Pittsburgh and Allegheny the following firms who make a specialty of the busi- 
ness. In addition to those, several of the sash and door factories embrace this 
business with their other: 

Style of Firm. 
Jos. Welsh & Co 
Wm. Peoples. 
A. Lewis. . . 
Wm. Boyd. . 
W. H. Roessle. 

These five establishments employ 65 hands, whose wages amount to about 
$36,000 a year, and their sales will amount to about $70,000 a year. They use 
100 reams of sand paper a year, and 150 gross of screws, and some 200 kegs of 
nails. The lumber principally used by them is walnut, ash, oak and cherry. 
The factories occupy 26,000 square feet of ground. 

There are also the following 

Wood Turning and Sawing 

Establishments which, as consuming lumber and producing articles of which it 
is the material, are properly classed in this division : 

Style of Firm. Location. Established by. Date^ 

Wm. Guckert. ... 178 Grant st. . . . Valentine,Guckert&Bro 1840 
Conkel & Cunningham. Cherry ay near 5th av T.H.Richard. . . . 1860 
Jas. Paul. ..... 183 Lacock st. . . Robt. Hays 1858 

These establishments employ 20 men, whose wages in the year amount to 
$12,350, and other products to $30,000. They use in the works 10 lathes, 10 
saws, 3 boring machines, 1 rod machine, 1 mortising machine, 1 moulder and 1 
planer. The capital in machinery is |9,500, and the area occupied by the works 
4,966 square feet. They use 90,000 feet of lumber and 30 reams of sand paper. 

Bellows Manufacturing 

Is also classed among the manufactures of lumber, although the consumption of 
leather and iron is perhaps equal of each to the lumber used. There are the 
following firms: 



126 Pittsburgh and Allegheny 

style of Firm. Location. Established by. Date.- 

D. K. Reynolds, ... 89 Webster st. . . Bell & Reynolds, . . I8ll 
Agnew, Somerville & Co. 34 Water st. . . . Agnew, Somerville & Co.1872: 
These two establishments employ 8 men, whose wages average yearly $5,150. 
They manufacture 660 pairs of bellows, consume hardware to amount of $3,500;: 
also 11,000 feet of leather, and other articles, as glue, buttons, paint and lumber. 
The value of their products is $26,600. 

Coffin and Casket Works. 

There are two of this class of manufactures in Allegheny City, as follows : 
Firm. Established By Location. 

Wettach, Couch & Co. 1867. Wilson, Brown & Co. Market & Bayard.. 

Hamilton,Lemon, Arnold & Co. 1864. Hamilton, Algeo, Arnold & Co., Mulberry st. 

These two establishments manufacture 45,000 coffins and caskets a year. 
They employ 240 hands, whose wages amount to $120,000 a year, and their sales 
average $430,000 annually. They use 2,500,000 feet of lumber a year, of which 
1,000,000 is Walnut, and the balance Pine and Poplar. Their consumption of 
hardware and trimmings amounts to $80,000 a year. In the process of manu- 
facturing they use 5 moulders, 5 sand-papering machines, 4 shapers, 18 saws, 3 
planers. The factories occupy an area of 476x320 feet. The capital in build- 
ings and machinery is about $150,000. The value of the lumber consumed is 
about $50,000. 

Another industry by which lumber is manufactured into articles of commerce 

is the making of 

Matches. 

There is but one establishment of this kind in Pittsburgh. This business is 
carried on by G. W. H. Davis & Co., who employ 27 hands, to whom they pay 
wages to the amount of $8,060. They use 100,000 feet of lumber, 5,500 lbs. of 
glue, 500 lbs. of phosphorus, 10,000 lbs. of Brimstone, 12 tons of paper for 
boxes; make 30,000 gross of matches yearly, the sales of which amount tO' 
$67,000. The factory was established in 1856 by A. J. Griggs. 

There are other minor manufactories which consume lumber: such as wooden 
pump making, skiff building, spar and oar making, but of which no statistics 
could be obtained; or when obtained were so deficient as to not be worth the 
presentation. From those here printed it would appear that the manufactories 
of Pittsburgh and Allegheny consuming lumber, and the crude lumber business, 
employ 2,488 hands, whose annual wages will amount to $1,281,560; while the 
space occupied by the various works and yards is equal to 129 acres of ground; 
and the capital in machinery and buildings alone is $1,325,203; and the total 
value of the products at present rates is $7,542,600. It is more probable that, 
including those other branches of manufactures which belong to the division of 
woods, whose statistics could not be disintegrated from the other classes of 
manufactures in which they are absorbed, among which is the cooperages carried 
on by the refineries, that this division of business will exceed eight millions in value. 



In the Centennial Year, 127 



CHAPTER XII. 



THE GLASS FACTORIES OF PITTSBURGH. 



The first glass house in Pittsburgh is said to have been in operation in 1795^ 
and was located at what is now called Glass House Ripple, in the Ohio, being in 
the Thirty-fifth ward of the city of Pittsburgh. Who built the works, or under 
what circumstances they were begun, there is no record to show, beyond the 
statement of one of the earliest workmen in glass in Pittsburgh, cited in a subse- 
quent paragraph. It is however of record, that arrangements for the manufacture 
of this article were commenced at Pittsburgh by General James O'Hara, in com- 
pany with Major Isaac Craig, in 1796. Mr. Wm. Eichbaum, of Philadelphia, was 
engaged to direct the erection of the works. We extract from a letter written by 
Major Craig, dated ''Pittsburgh, June 12, 1797," to "Col. James O'Hara, Detroit,'' 
published in Craig's History of Pittsburgh, the following remarks in relation to 
the first movement: "I then took Mr. Eichbaum up the coal hill, and showed 
him the coal pits, called Ward's pits, and the lots on which they are,-,with all of 
which he was well pleased, both as to the situation and convenience of mate- 
rials for building. I therefore immediately purchased of Ephraim Jones the 
house and lot near the spring, for one hundred pounds, and have made appli- 
cation to Ephraim Blaine for the two adjoining lots, which no doubt I will get 
on reasonable terms. These three lots are quite sufficient, and we are now 
quarrying lime and building stone, both of which are found on the lot, James 
Irwin is engaged to do the carpenter work; scantling for the principal building 
is now sawing; four log-house carpenters are employed in providing timber 
for the other buildings, and I am negotiating with a mason for the stone work.'' 
Although this enterprise of General O'Hara and Major Craig is usually consid- 
ered the first step toward the creation of our present glass business, yet the 
author of this volume was informed over twenty years ago by William Mc Cully, 
the founder of the present house of Wm. M'Cully <fe Co., one of our oldest glass 
manufacturers and a practical workman, having learned his trade in the glass house 
of General O'Hara, that in 1795 there was a small window glass factory at what is 
now called Glass House Ripple, on the west side of the Monongahela, known in 
the early times as " Scott's," having an eight pot furnace. The making of glass 
was carried on with wood, and there was made three boxes to a blowing. 

The first glass house of General O'Hara had but eight pots, whose capacity 
was equal to three boxes to a blowing. To his perseverance Pittsburgh is 
indebted for the establishment of this important branch of her manufactures, 



128 Pittsburgh and Allegheny 

Major Craig having declined any further connection in the business in 1798, He 
built in 1802 additional glass works, and made preparations to carry on the flint 
glass business, sending an agent to England for the purpose of procuring work- 
men, but the person returned unsuccessful from his mission. 

The success of these pioneer works is to be inferred from an article in 
Cramer's Almanack for 1804, which in an enumerative article on the manufac- 
turing trade of Pittsburgh for 1803, contains the .following lines: 

*' Glass, window bottles, jars, decanters, blue glass, $12,500. 

''Glass cutting. N. B. — Equal to any cut in the States of Europe — $500." 

The establishment of the manufacture of window glass west of the moun- 
tains is due, however, to the enterprise of the celebrated Albert Gallatin, who in 
1*787, in conjunction with a Mr. Nicholson and two Messrs. Kramers, (Germans), 
began the manufacture of window glass at New Geneva. This firm obtained 
from |14 to $20 per box for their glass and maintained high prices for a length 
of time, in opposition to the advice of Mr. Gallatin who wished to put the price 
down to $4.50 per box, giving as his reason that the enormous prices the firm 
were obtaining would soon invite competition, whereas the rate of $4.50 per box 
would not invite rivalry, and the business remaining in their hands alone would 
be sufficiently remunerative. This shrewd advice was overruled, and through 
competition the prices declined to $8 per box, when the firm ceased manufac- 
turing. 

A number of the workmen of the eastern factories came from Frederick, 
Maryland, at which place the Messrs. Amlung erected large window glass facto- 
ries somewhere between the close of 1798 and 1802 or 3. The Messrs. Amlung 
were unsuccessful, and the works being discontinued, many of the workmen 
came to Pittsburgh. ' 

In 1807 the products of O'Hara's glass-factory are recorded as valued at 
$18,000. In 1807 George Robinson, a carpenter by trade, and Edward Ensell, 
under the style of Robinson & Ensell, commenced the manufacture of flint glass, 
but owing to disagreements in the firm, transacted little or no business; and 
in 1808 they were bought out by Messrs. Bakewell & Page, by which house the 
manufacture of flint glass has been continued to the present time ; being now 
known under the style of Bakewell, Pears & Co. 

In 1810, according to " a cursory view of the principal manufactures in and 
adjacent to Pittsburgh," there were three glass works "in handsome operation" 
producing flint glass to the value of $30,000, and bottles and window glass to the 
value of $40,000. At the same date it is also mentioned of glass cutting: 
^'This business has been recently established by an ingenious German, (Eich- 
baum,) formerly glass cutter to Louis XVI, late King of France. We have seen 
a six light chandelier^ with prisms, which does credit to the workman and reflects 
honor on our country, for we have reason to believe it is the first ever cut in the 
United States." 






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In the Centennial Year. 129 



In 1813 the number of glass factories had increased to five, producing glass 
to the value of $160,000. 

In 1826 there were in operation in Pittsburgh and vicinity, seven glass 

works, viz: 

Boxes 

• 

O'Hara's two works, called Pittsburgh Glass Works, 6,000 

""Birmingham," opposite Pittsburgh, 4,000 

New Albany, at mouth of Redstone creek, four miles below Brownsville, 4,000 

-" Benedict Kimber," at Bridgeport or Brownsville, . ; 4,000 

"New Boston," at Perryopolis on Youghiogheny, . 2,000 

Williamsport, occupied by W. Ihmsen, 3,000 

^Geneva Works, established by Albert Gallatin, 4,000 

27,000 

Valued at, |135,000 

In addition to which was made flint glass to the value of, 30,000 

1165,000 

In 1831 there were eight glass works, four producing flint and four producing 
window and green glass, to the value of ^500,000. In 183*7 there were thirteen 
glass factories, six of which were flint glass works, and the balance green and 
window glass, making about $700,000 worth of glass. Among these were the 
Sligo works of William McCully, established in- 1828, and continued at the pres- 
ent day by W. McCully & Co. The flint glass works of Curling & Price, known 
as the Fort Pitt Glass Works, established in 1830, now carried on by their 
successor, E. D. Dithridge & Co. The window glass factory of F. Lorenz, now 
continued by Thos. Wightman & Co. Twenty years afterwards, in 1857, there 
were thirty-three factories at Pittsburgh, of which nine produced flint glass 
and twenty-four window, green and black glass, to the value of $2,631,990. 
Employing 1,982 hands, whose wages were $910,116, and they consumed material 
to amount of $2,078,734.40. 

In 1865 there were fifteen bottle and vial factories, fifteen window glass fac- 
tories, and fifteen flint glass works in Pittsburgh, being forty-five glass works in 
all, an increase of forty per cent, in number in eight years. 

Those fifteen window glass works, located immediately at Pittsburgh, had a 
<5apacity to make 520,000 boxes of glass a year, but their average yield is about 
400,000 boxes, whose entire value at that time was $2,600,000. The fifteen green 
or vial works produced annually about 420,000 gross, or 60,480,000 of vials and 
bottles, worth at rate then $2,100,000. The pressure upon these works at that 
time is best shown by the fact that, although only customary to run them for ten 
months in the year, yet many of them had ran twenty-one months without 
stopping. 

The fifteen flint glass works then in operation at Pittsburgh, produced about 
4,200 tons of glassware, worth then, in round numbers, two millions of dollars. 
Their capacity was, however, double the amount produced, or about 8,000 tons. 
9 



130 Pittsburgh and Allegheny 

The following tables showing the shipments of window glass and glass ware^ 
by rail from Pittsburgh in 1863 and 1864, are of interest, as showing the grasp^ 
of the trade in the business of the whole United States at that time. The ship- 
ments by river, of which no statistics are attainable, were to all Western States^ 
that could be reached by boat, and about equal in amount to the shipments by 

rail. 

Q. ,^„ Window Glass Glass Ware 

^^^^^^* Boxes. Packages. 

Pennsylvania, 9,438 56,235- 

New York, 2,038 79,626 

Maryland, ' 20 22,721 

Massachusetts, 2,197 

Canada, .• 850 4,268 

Connecticut, 988 

Rhode Island, 96 

Delaware, 13 

New Hampshire, 82 

District of Columbia, 1,247 

California, 50* 

New Jersey, 170- 

Vermont, 78- 

England, ". 49 4a 

Louisiana, 747 

Ohio, 58,378 66,045. 

Indiana, 24,306 19,52a 

Illinois, 71,296 107,22a 

Wisconsin, 21,182 28,246 

Minnesota, . 2,003 3,368 

Mississippi, 55 18& 

Missouri, 10,075 14,37a 

Iowa, 27,641 14,931 

Kansas, 1,341 1,702 

Nebraska, 209 303 

Kentucky, 675 2,837 

Michigan,.. . . . . 25,414 25,212 

Virginia, 2,426 860' 

Tennessee, 120 574- 

Texas, 273 28T 

Total boxes Window Glass exported East,^ 11,633 

" " '' " West, 233,037 

Total boxes Glass Ware exported East, 141,646 

" '' " '* West, ...... 308,009 



In the Centennial Year. 131 

At the date of the above tables of shipment, it appears from the report of 
the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, that the entire amount of revenue derived 
from glass manufactures by the 6 per cent, internal tax in the year from June 
30, 1864, to June 30, 1865, was $585, 429. 6Y, as follows: 

In Maine, one district returning glass, paid, $ 3,Y26 33- 

New Hampshire, one district returnmg glass, paid, 1,369 18^ 

Massachusetts, seven '' " " ..... 103,583 06 

Rhode Island, one '' '' '' 645 31 

Connecticut, three, '' '^ " 4,050 04 

New York, twenty-one '' '' "■ 89,643 17 

New Jersey, five '' "■ " 100,673 69 

Pennsylvania, eight '' '' '' 226,715 42 

Maryland, one . '^ " '' 9,299 55 

West Va., one '' " '' 18,849 26 

Kentucky, two '' " " 6,339 36 

Ohio, five " '' " 12,721 15 

Illinois, two '' '' 'i 2,834 61 

Missouri, one ^' " " 3,514 42 

California, one '' '' '' 1,444 92 

From these figures it would appear that Pennsylvania paid forty-three per 
cent, of the entire revenue obtained throughout the United States from manufac- 
tured glass. The revenue from Pennsylvania was divided as follows : 

First District, Philadelphia, . . . . $ 1,269 75 

Second '' '' 13,095 13 

Third '' " 24,027 13 

Fifteenth '' '' 191 70 

Eighteenth District, ^' 769 75 

Twenty-first District, 12,486 55 

Twenty-second District, Pittsburgh, 169,556 72 

Twenty-fourth " '' 4,818 39 

From this it appears that the glass manufacturers of Pittsburgh paid a little 
over feeventy-four per cent., or nearly three-fourths of the revenue from glass in 
Pennsylvania, and twenty-nine per cent., or nearly one-third of the sum obtained 
from the whole United States. This tax will be found to be largely increased in 
the report of the Commissioners for the year ending June 30, 1866, as there was 
returned to the Assessor, as sold from March, 1865, to March, 1866, $4,606,074. 
The tax upon this was 6 per cent., which should give an amount of revenue 
from Pittsburgh equal to $276,364.44. 

The growth of the glass manufacturing of Pittsburgh from 1795 to 1865, the 
foregoing statements indicate. The present status, eighty years after the manu- 
facture of glass was begun at Pittsburgh, the following tables show. No branch 
of the business of Pittsburgh shows a more steady increase. To-day Pittsburgh 



132 



Pittsburgh and Allegheny 



is the great glass market of the United States, as she is of iron and steel. The 
facilities for manufacturing glass at Pittsburgh are not surpassed any where, and 
there is butiittle doubt that the long stretch she is ahead in the manufacturing 
of glass in the United States, will continue to be maintained. The introduction 
of the natural gas mentioned in the chapter on the manufacturing advantages of 
Pittsburgh, will, without question, do as much for this branch of manufacture 
as for others, where cost of fuel and quality is involved. 
There are now at Pittsburgh the following: 

Window Glass Factories. 



Firm. 



Thos. Wightman & Co. 
C. I. Ihmsen & Co. . . 

Wm. McCully & Co. . / 

S. McKee & Co 

R. C. Schmertz, .... 

A. & D. H. Chambers, 

Cunningham & Ihmsen, 
Wolfe, Howard & Co. . 

Wells, 

Stewart, Esten k Co. . 
Duff & Campbell, . . . 

Phillips & Co 

Knox, Kim & Co. ... 

Iron City Window | 

Glass Co / 



Office. 


Estab'd. 


43 Wood St. 


1796 
1810 
1824 
1854 
1836 
1836 

1841 

1849 
1859 

1866 
1866 
1866 
1867 

1874 

1 


20 Wood St. 

62 Water st. 
97 First ave. 

6 Bingham st. 

109 Water st. 
4 Wood St. . 


Jane and 2 2d. 
110 Water St. 
19th & Mary, 
70 Carson st. 

69 Water st. 



Who by. 



Gen'l O'Hara, 
C. Ihmsen, . . 



F. Lorenz, . . . 

S. McKee & Co. 
Wm. Eberhart, . 
Anderson, Chambers ) 

& Co 3 

Cunningham & Co. . 
Wolfe, Howard & Co. 



Melling, BstcD & Co. 
Page, Ze]lers^&; Duff, 
Beck, Phillips & Co. 
Knox, Kim & Co. . . 
Iron City Window 
Glass Co. . . . 







3 


30 


1 


20 


2 


20 


2 


20 


2 


16 


3 


30 


2 


20 


1 


10 


1 


10 


2 


16 


1 


10 


1 


10 


2 


14 


1 


8 



These 24 factories employ 1200 hands, whose wages amount to |1, 000, 000 
annually. They consume 19,200 tons of sand, 7,200 tons of soda ash, 4,800 
tons of lime, 2,400 tons of fire clay, 8,400,000 feet of lumber, 2,445,600 bushels 
of coal and coke, 750 tons of straw, 1680 barrels of salt, 3,400 cords of wood, 
and nails, iron and castings to the amount of |10,000. They work 44 hofses, 
and employ 36 wagons in hauling. They produ<je 840,000 boxes, of fifty feet 
each, of window glass per year, weighing 29,400 tons, whose value at present 
rates is |2, 500,000. The works occupy a space of 47 acres, and there is $1,557,- 
000 of capital in the buildings, machinery and ground. 

The manufacture of window glass was the earliest established here, and the 
amount manufactured is quite one-half of all made in the United States. The 
largest size of double strength is made from 4 in. by 5 in. up to 42 in. by 78 in. 

The market for the productions of the window glass of Pittsburgh is con- 
stantly extending. The tables given of the shipments by rail in 1864-5, showing 
the reach of this trade throughout the United States, would be much augmented 




INTEBIOB OP A WINDOW tJLASS WORKS. 

MAKING WINDOW GLASS CYLINDERS. 




/?/J^ ^iWf^ ,jry>y Zff/' 



INTERIOR VIEW OF A GLASS WORKS. 

MAKING BOTTLES. 




o 



m 



o 

o 

w 

H 

I 

(« 
Eh 

Eh 



Z 

O 



o 



In the Centennial Year, 



133 



if similar tables of the past three or four years were compiled. In the south- 
eastern States especially the increase has been marked. The facilities for the 
production of glass at Pittsburgh, as before stated, are unsurpassed, and with 
the facilities, skill and experience which eighty years of window glass manufac- 
turing has accumulated here, combined with the mineral facilities, the transpor- 
tation advantages that exist, Pittsburgh must remain, as she always has been, 
the great window glass market of the United States. 
There are also the following 

Crystal or Table Glassware Factories. 



Style of Firm. 



Bakewell, Pears & Co. 
O'Hara Glass Co. . . 
Adams & Co. . . . 
Bryce, Walker & Co. 
McKee Bros .... 
Campbell, Jones & Co. 
Plunkett & Co. . . 
Challiner,Hogan & Co. 
King, Son & Co. . . 
Richards & Hartley )^ 
Flint Glass Co. / 
Doyle & Co. ... 
Rippley & Co. . . . 
Geo. Duncan k Son. 
Crystal Glass Co. 



Office. 



8th and Bingham 
30th & Railroad. 
10th & Williams. 
95 Water street. 

87 Water st. . 
14th & Breed, s s. 
8th k Washington 
18th street, s s. 

Pride & Marion. 

lOth&Washing'n 
8th and Bingham 
10th near Carson 
16th&Washing'n 



Estab'd. 



By. 



1808 
1837 
1851 
1850 
1850 
1863 
1863 
1864 
1865 

1866 

1866 
1866 
1866 
1869 



Bakewell & Page. 
Parks, Campbell & Co. 
Adams, Macklin & Co. 
Bryce, McKee & Co. 
F. & J. McKee. . 
Shephard k Co. . 
Plunkett & Co. 
Pitts. G. M. Co. . 
Johnston, King k Co 
Richards k Hartley 1 
Flint Glass Co. / 
Doyle & Co. . . . 
Rippley k Co. . . . 
Rippley & Co. . . . 
Crystal Glass Co. 





Pots 


2 


20 


2 


20 


2 


21 


3 


31 


4 


40 


2 


20 


1 


10 


1 1 


10 


2 


20 


1 


10 


1 


10 


1 


10 


1 2 


20 


i. 2 


20 



These twenty-four crystal glass factories manufacture all descriptions of 
table ware in almost endless variety of articles and styles. They employ 1,895 
hands, to whom they pay |1, 233, 000 wages. They use 3,060 tons soda ash, 
11,700 tons sand, 760 tons nitrate soda, 600 kegs nails, $4,000 of bar iron, 825,- 
760 bushels of coal, 150,560 bushels of coke, boxes to the value of ^130,450 for 
packing, 35,475 bushels of lime, 2,460 tons of straw. The capital in the build- 
ings, machinery and grounds is |1, 304, 587, and the space occupied by the 
buildings, &c., is 109 acres. They work 34 horses and use 23 wagons. They 
produce 15,000 tons glass, worth $2,250,000. 

There are also four 

Flint (Yial and Bottle or Druggist) Glass Works. 



Firm. 



Wm.McCully&Co. . 
W. H. Hamilton k Co. 
Agnew k Co. . . . 
Tibby Bros. . . . 



Office. 



20 Wood. . . 
26 Wood. . . 
153 First avenue 
13 Wood St. . . 



Estab'd. 



1855 
1863 
1866 
1866 



By. 



T. A. Evans. . . 
W. H. Hamilton. . 
Jno. Agnew k Sons 
Tibby Bros. . . 



1 m 


Pots 


2 


17 


J ^ 


18 


2 


11 


1 2 


20 



134 



Pittsburgh and Allegheny 



These eight factories occupj^ a space of seven acres, and the capital in build- 
ings, machinery and grounds is $191,000. They employ 619 hands, whose wages 
amount to $395,000 a year. They consume 900 tons soda ash, 3,250 tons sand, 
23,500 bushels of lime, 210 tons nitrate of soda, 60,000 bushels of coke, 371,000 
bushels coal, 610 tons of straw, 50,000 fire brick, 90 tons fire clay, boxes to the 
value of $50,000, for packing, 14 tons of iron, 250 kegs of nails, employ 16 
horses and 10 wagons in hauling. They produce bottles and vials worth about 
five hundred thousand dollars. 

There are also eleven 

Green Glass Works. 



Firm. 



Thos. Wightman, . . 
S. McKee & Co. . . . 
A. & D. H. Chambers, 
Cunningham & Ihmsen, 
Wm. Frank & Son, . ' 
Wm. McOullv & Co. . 
Phillips & Co. . . . 
C. Ihmsen k Sons,"^" . 



Office. 


Estab'd. 


43 Wood St. 


1837 


62 Water st. 


1836 


6th & Bing'm. 


1841 


109 Water St. 


1849 


92 First ave. 


1854 


20 Wood St. 


1833 


19 & Mary st. 


1866 




1810 



By. 



W. McCully, . . . 
S. McKee & Co. . . 
Chambers & Agnew, 
Cunningham & Co. 
E. Wormser & Co. . 
Wm. McCully, . . 
Beck, Phillips & Co. 
C. Ihmsen, 





Pot. 


2 


12 


1 


1 


2 


12 


1 


8 


1 


6 


2 


14 


1 


8 


1 


8 



-2 



♦Estate in hands of assignees — not running. 

These 11 green glass or bottle factories manufacture all descriptions of green 
and black bottles, fruit jars and similar articles. They employ 944 hands, whose 
annual wages amount to |566,000. They use 3450 tons of soda ash, 12,050 
tons of sand, 66,400 bushels of lime, 1060 barrels of salt, 465 tons of pot clay, 
625 kegs of nails, 22 tons of iron, 65,000 fire brick, 86,000 bushels coke, 940,- 
000 bushels coal, 625 cords wood, 1560 tons straw, boxes and barrels to the 
value of $107,000 for packing, and employ 21 wagons and 36 horses in hauling. 
The works occupy a space of 18 acres, and the capital in machinery, buildings 
and ground is about $925,000. The value of the product is |1, 350, 000. 

There is also 9 

Glass Chimney Factories. 



Firm. 



Dithridge & Co. . . 
Excelsior Flint G. Co. 
Evans, Sell & Co. . 
KeystoneFlint Glass \ 
Manufactu'g Co. J 
Kunzler & Co. . . . 
James Lindsay & Co. 



Office. 



Washington st. 
8 Wood St. . . 
22d & Josephine 

3d and Try sts. 

Foot 17th St., ss, 
6 Wood street. . 



Estab'd 



1830 
1863 
1869 

1872 

1874 
1872 



By. 



Curling & Price, . . 
Excelsior Flint G. Co, 
Reddick & Co. . . . 

Keystone F. G. M. Co, 

Kunzler & Co. . . . 
James Lindsay & Co. 





Pots 


2 


20 


1 


10 


2 


20 


1 


10 


2 


20 


1 


10 



o • 



In the Centennial Year, 135 

These nine factories occupy a space of 27 acres, and the capital in buildings, 
imachinery and ground, is $260,000. They employ 790 hands, whose wages 
amount to |365,000 a year. They consume 325 tons pearl ash, 480 tons of 
lead, 600 tons soda ash, 278 tons nitrate of soda, 2,340 tons of sand. They burn 
469,000 bushels of coal, 60,000 bushels coke; use 725 tons straw for packing, 
-about $12,000 worth of pots for the furnaces ; also, $58,000 worth of boxes and 
barrels for packing, and about 250 cords of wood. They produce annually 
about 16,200,000 chimneys worth $600,000. 

This is a branch of the glass making of Pittsburgh, which owes a great in- 
•crease to the introduction of Petroleum, and is one of the additional sources of 
•wealth which the utilizing of that «nineral substance opened to Pittsburgh. 

All the flint glass chimnies made in the United States are manufactured at 
Pittsburgh, and four-fifths of all other kinds. 

From the foregoing exhibit of the five divisions of glass manufacturing in 
Pittsburgh it appears that the total of factories is 73, having 690 pots. There 
are employed 5,248 hands, whose wages average annually $3,479,000. The total 
material consumed amounts to 12, 110. tons soda ash, 48,340 tons of sand, 152,000 
bushels of lime, 1,218 tons of nitrate of soda, 793,560 bushels of coke, 4,523,760 
bush'els of coal, 4,025 cords of wood, 6,055 tons of straw, 2,760 barrels of salt, 
250 tons pearl ash, 360 tons lead, 150,000 fire brick, 2,955 tons German clay, 2,100 
kegs of nails. Thej employ 96 wagons and 130 horses in hauling, and pay 
$484,250 lor packing boxes. The space occupied by the buildings is equal to 
208 acres; and the capital in buildings machinery and grounds is $4,137,587. 
"The entire value of the products will average, at present rates, $7,500,000. 



136 Pittsburgh and Allegheny 



CHAPTER XIII. 



THE COAL BUSINESS OF PITTSBURGH. 



Coal was known in England as early as A. D. 853, and was applied to 
economical purposes about the middle* of the twelfth century. In Begium^ 
according to tradition, a blacksmith discovered the value of coal as fuel, in 1198;. 
and in 1239 the men of New Castle, England, were granted the privilege of dig- 
ging coals by King Henry III. 

From old writers upon the subject, it appears that the mining of coal was, in^ 
the early days of its introduction as a fuel, conducted under special charters- 
Its extraction in Belgium was prior to the fifteenth century, subject to the con- 
trol and supervision of an especial court; and in Scotland, one of the piivile^es^ 
granted to a religious house in A. D. 1291, was that of mining coal. 

The adoption of coal as a substitute for wood was gradual, and many preju- 
dices had to be dissipated before the use of it became general. 

In Paris, the medical faculty was employed in the beginning of the fifteenth^ 
century in making a decision of how far this new description of fuel was injuri- 
ous to health ; and in the early part of the sixteenth century the citizens of 
London petitioned Parliament against the use of coals. Proclamations were 
issued in the reigns of the first Edward, of England, and of Queen Elizabeth,, 
forbidding the use of coal during the sitting of Parliament, lest the health of the- 
Knights of the Shire should suffer from its consumption, during their residence 
in London. 

It seems incredible that a human being should be condemned to suffer deatb 
for burning coal, yet history records that a citizen of London, for violation of a 
stringent law prohibiting its use in England, was executed. So great an evil 
was once deemed that mineral, now considered so great a good, that the value of 
the yearly extraction from the deposits of that mineral in Great Britain, Belgium,. 
France, Prussia and Pennsylvania was, in 1848, estimated at $145,200,000, and; 
every year since has largely increased the demand and supply. 

Taylor, in his coal statistics, computes that the above-mentioned sum is 
<' nearly nine times the annual value of the gold and silver exported from Mexico, 
or six times that of the gross produce of the precious metal in North and South 
America and Russia." A momentary consideration of the immense excess in 
value, which is thus shown to be possessed by coal over the gold and silver of 
the world, fully prepares the mind to admit that Pittsburgh is richer in her coal 
fields than the balance of the world, in all their deposits of precious metals.. 



In the Centennial Year. 137 

The extent of the bituminous coal field by which Pittsburgh is surrounded 
in her own State, and from which she derives revenue, is 15,000 square miles — 
being equal to 8,600,000 acres. The amount of coal contained in that area, it is 
extremely difl&cult to estimate, because of the variations of strata, and want of 
reliable information as to the number of workable coal veins to be found in the 
same depth from the surface reached by the English and French mines. The 
upper, or Pittsburgh seam alone, would, estimating it at an average of eight feet 
in thickness, contain in that area 1,498,464,000,000 bushels, or 53,516,430,000 
tons of coal — the value of which, at an average rate of five cents per bushel, 
would be worth $74,923,200,000, or more than the bullion production of the 
United States, at its present rate of $70,000,000 annually, would amount to in 
one thousand years. 

The tract of ground containing such a value of mineral, was purchased by 
the Proprietaries, as the Penn family and their coadjutors were styled in 176& 
and 1784 — one hundred years ago, /or the sum of $10,000. 

As the purport of this chapter is only to show the statistics of the coal trade 
of Pittsburgh, so far as they can be obtained, it is not to the purpose to present 
the area of the coal field of Pittsburgh in comparison with those of other States,. 
nor its quality. In the chapter on the ^'Mineralogical Position of Pittsburgh,"" 
those things are presented. 

In Pittsburgh coal appears to have been used as early as 1784, and was then 
mined from the hill immediately opposite the city, where the Penns granted the 
privilege at £30 a lot, "to dig coal as far in as the perpendicular line falling: 
from the summit of the hill.""^ 

From that day to the present, Coal Hill, as it is familiarly called, has furnished' 
large quantities of fuel to this locality ; and at no point has coal of a better 
quality, for all purposes for which it is used, been discovered. The importance 
of this mineral, and its value to Pittsburgh, is so largely dwelt upon in the chap- 
ters of this work devoted to the mineralogical position of the city and its manu- 
facturing advantages that it is unnecessary to remark further here upon the 
subject. The extent to which it is mined, the cost of its extraction, and the 
various expenses attendant upon taking it to market, are points which the distant 
reader will be gratified to find discussed under the title heading this section of 
the volume. 

Until 1850 all the coal exported from this city was floated down the river in 
large flat-bottomed boats, which were usually one-hundred and twenty- five feet 
long, sixteen feet wide, and eight feet deep, with flat perpendicular sides, bow 
and stern. Each boat of this size holds about 15,000 bushels of coal, and they 
were floated to their destination lashed in pairs. The usual complement of 
hands for such boats was twenty-three or twenty- four. These boats could only 
be floated down the river, or as it -is technically termed, ''run," in the high 
floods that generally, from time to time, in the spring and fall of each year, swell 
the current of water in the Ohio river. Of late years a system of towing has 



138 Pittsburgh and Allegheny 

been introduced by barges and steamboats constructed expressly for the trade, 
which, being adopted, has caused the Pittsburgh "coal boat" to disappear from 
the waters of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. 

The towing of coal was begun in 1850, the ''Lake Erie" making three trips 
with four barges each time, carrying 16,000 bushels. She was, in March, 1851, 
followed in the trade h} the "Black Diamond," owned by N. J. Bigley, carrying 
20,000 bushels in four barges, from which time the towing of coal has been 
successfully carried on. 

It is from the four pools of the Monongahela river that the large proportion 
of the coal barges start upon their voyage to points below. It is, however, in 
the harbor of the city of Pittsburgh that the coal tows so called are formed. 
These tows consist of twelve barges and one steam tow boat. The barges are 
of an average measurement of four hundred and fifty tons, and the steam tow 
boats average one hundred and fifty tons admeasurement. The barges hold an 
average of twelve thousand bushels of coal, and are of an average length of one 
hundred and thirty feet, and twenty-four feet in breadth, and cost from $500 to 
$1,000 each. Of these barges twelve are lashed to the steamer; one being lashed 
to each side, while ten are placed in front, five in length and two wide, being lit- 
erally shoved along instead of towed. This whole mass of boats and coal is 
firmly attached by lashing in one body, of which the steam tow boat is the rear 
centre, and propels the flotilla from the interior of the mass, instead of dragging 
it along, as might be supposed from the term towing, which is the popular term 
for this mode of taking coal to market. The bulk of coal thus moved in one of 
these tows, so called, varies from 100,000 bushels to 130,000 bushels, and is the 
product of an acre or an acre and a half of coal. . Each of these tows require 
the services of an average of twenty-four hands, whose wages average about 
sixty dollars a day. The time usually employed in going to Cincinnati with one 
of these tows is four days, and to Louisville five days. It takes two more days 
to make the return trip. To New Orleans the time is two weeks, and the return 
trip between three and four weeks. ' The average cost per barge for towing to 
Cincinnati is $75.00, and to Louisville $110. The stores and provisions for the 
round trip cost about $200.00. These tow boats consume an average of 1000 
bushels of coal, costing five cents a bushel, each day, while running. 

As before stated the great bulk of the coal that is in this manner transported 
to the markets below Pittsburgh, is taken from the collieries on the Monongahela 
river, which is slackwatered, and divided into six pools. It is from the first four 
of these, ascending the river about sixty miles, that at present the bulk of the 
€oal mined and loaded on that river is taken. The following tables show the * 
-collieries in those four pools and their details. It is proper here to state, how- 
ever, that the acres of coal given in the table only represents the number of acres remain- 
ing in the original tract belonging to the collieries when first established. In most 
cases these collieries own the river fronts, and there are large tracts of coal 
lying back of those now being worked out. 



In the Centennial Year, 



139 



Table No. 1 of Collieries in Pool No. 1, Monongahela River, 

showing: 



Firm, 



H. B. Hays & Bro. 
Joseph Walton & Co 
Corry & Co. 
A. H. Kenny & Co. 
Redman & Fawcett, 
J. D. Risher, 



Estab'd 


Who By. 


Address 


Hands.* 


Bush. Mined 


1828 


Jas. H. Hays. 


142 Water St 


500 


4^000,000 


1863 


Haberman & Co. . 


134 Water st 


175^ 


1,500,000* 


1865 


Corrv & Co. . . . 


6 av & Wood 


75 


1,500,000 


1835 


Robert McClure, . 


Braddocks, 


70 


500,000 


1849 


Henning & Fawcett, 


87 Water st. 


140 


1,500,000 


1860 


Daniel Risher, . . 


Hope Chur. 


125 


1,800,000 



*Tho discrepancies in amount of coal mined as compared with number of hands, arise from some 
•collierjes working greater number of days and less force, making a greater "out-put." 



Table .No. 2 of Collieries in Pool No. 1. 
showing: 



Firm. 


Wages. 


i 

VJ 


Value 


Pit 

Wagons 


Value. 


Improve- 
ments. 


i 


Mules 


H. B. Hays & Bro. 


160,000 


200 


100,000 


500 


115,000 


300,000 


10 


20 


Joseph Walton & Co. 


60,000 


25 


15,000 


160 


4,800 


30,000 




10 


Corry & Co. . . . 


50,000 


15 


7,500 


100 


3,000 


60,000 


3 


15 


A. H. Kenny & Co. 


48,000 


6 


2,400 


45 


1,350 


5,000 


_ 


6 


Redman & Fawcett, 


60,000 


50 


20,000 


100 


3,000 


45,000 


_ 


10 


J. D. Risher, . . . 


56,000 


45 


22,500 


125 


3,750 


34,000 


- 


11 



Table No. 3 op Collieries in Pool No. 1, 



showing : 



Firm. 


Acres 
Coal. 


Miles 

Pit 

Track 


Tow 
Boats. 


Value. 


1 


Value. 


QQ 


Value. 




Id 

00 


H. B. Hays & Bro. 
Joseph Walton & Co. 
€orry & Co. . . . 
A. H. Kenny & Co. . 
Redman & Fawcett, 
J. D. Risher, . . . 


3,500 

150 

40 

ul 

110 


30 
3 

1 

1* 

4* 

3 


-t 
6 




140 
4 




36 

3 

8 

- 




3 
1 

1 




148,000 


140,000 


14,400 


40 




1,600 


900 
2.400 














*T Rail. fSee Hays Coal Co. 



140 



Pittsburgh and Allegheny 



Table No. 1 op Collieries in Pool No. 2, Monongahela River, 

showing: 



Firm. 



Joseph Walton k Co. 
Joseph Walton & Co. 
G. & W. Jones, . . 
O'Neil & Co. . . . 
Foster, Clark & Wood, 
Lynn, Wood & Co. . 
Wm. Stone's Estate, 
J. C. Risher, . . . 
J. C. Risher & Co. . 
Geo. Ljsle & Sons, . 
Culp k Gamble, . . 
Horner & Roberts, . 
Robert Wood, . . . 
Farrow, Gumbert & Co 
Robbins & Jenkins, . 
Wm. Neil, .... 
Wm. Neil, .... 
Neil & Oliyer, . . . 
Wm. H. Brown. . . 



Colliery 
Estab'd 



1855 
1870 
1848 



1850 
1856 
1866 
1852 
1855 
1850 
1859 
1870 
1858 
1851 
1846 
1846 
1843 
1846 



Who By. 



O'Neil & Berry, 
Walton & Co. . 
T. Jones & Co. . 



Blackburn & Co. 
John O'Neil, . 
Stone & McGrew, 
Jas. O'Neil, . . 
J. C. Risher. 
Jas. O'Neil, . . 
Wm. Hodsen, . 
Horner k Roberts, 
A. Love, . . . 
Mr. Eagan, . . 
Pollock, Dunseath k 
George Blackstock, 
J. Neil k Bro. . . 
David Collins, . . 
M. Correy. . . . 



Co 



Office. 


Men. 


134 Water. 


175 


134 Water. 


175 


Smd. & 1 av 


90 


118 Water. 


— 


69 Water st. 


125 


69 Water st. 


150 


141 Water. 


150 


160 1st ave. 


100 


160 1st ave. 


100 


80 Water st. 


175 


Coal Valley 
64 Water st. 


100 
200 


Elizabeth. 


150 


10 Smithf'd 


125 


69 Water st. 


120 


M'Keesport. 
M'Keesport. 
M'Keesport. 
25 Smithf d. 


25 

60 

125 

325 



Bush. Mined 
Yearly. 

1,500,000 

1,500,000 

800,000 



1,000,000 
1,600,000 
2,000,000 
1,000,000 
1,000,000 
1,250,000 
1,400,000 
2,000,000 
1,200,000 
1,600,000 
1,000,000 
400,000 
480,000 
2,000,000 
4,000,000 



Table No. 2 op Collieries in Pool No. 2, 

SHOWING : 



Firm. 



Joseph Walton k Co. 
Joseph Walton k Co. 
G. k W. Jones, . . 
O'Neil & Co. . . . 
Foster, Clark k Wood 
Lynn, Wood k Co. 
Wm. Stone's Estate, 
J. C. Risher, . 
J. C. Risher k Co. . 
Geo. Lysle k Sons, 
Culp k Gamble, . . 
Horner k Roberts, . 
Robert Wood, . . 
Farrow, Gumbert k C 
Robbins k Jenkins, 
Wm. Neel, . . . 
Wm. Neel, . . . 
Neil k Oliver, . . 
Wm. H. Brown. . 



Yearly 




Value 


Pitt 


Value 


Improve- 


QQ 


Wages. 


O 




Wagons. 




ments. 


S 


$64,000 


40 


$24,000 


140 


$4,200 


$45,000 


3 


64,000 


60 


36,000 


160 


4,800 


80,000 




32,000 


8 


8,000 


84 


2,520 


25,000 


1 


1 40,000 


10 


4,000 


100 


3,000 


31,400 




80,000 


75 


37,500 


200 


6,000 


105,000 


6 


80,000 


35 


21,000 


210 


6,300 


50,000 


8 


84,000 


60 


15,000 


115 


3,450 


1,500 




84,000 


40 


16,000 


120 


3,600 


20,000 




96,000 


46 


18,400 


150 


4,500 


253,000 


1 


64,000 


35 


7,000 


70 


2,100 


15,000 




88,000 


70 


33,600 


180 


5,400 


40,000 


1 


80,000 


22 


16,500 


143 


4,290 


60,000 




70,000 


18 


9,000 


146 


4,300 


40,000 


3 


60,000 


33 


16,500 


125 


3,750 


18,000 


4 


16,000 


20 


10,000 


40 


1,200 


25,000 




40,000 


12 


6,000 


84 


2,520 


20,000 




80,000 


6 


L200 


136 


4,080 


25,000 




128,000-^ 


150 


37,500 


275 


8,250 


45,000 


— 



17 

10 

9 

10 
12 
12 
12 
12 
11 

r 

10 

7 

8 
2 
6 
8 
20 



*25 Coke ovens, worth $6,250, produciug 500,000 bushels of coke a year. 



Table No. 3 op Collieries in Pool No. 2, 

SHOWING : 



Firm. 



Joseph Walton &' Co. 
Joseph Walton & Co. 
G. & W. Jones, . . 
O'Neil & Co. . . . 
Foster, Clark & Wood, 
Lynn, Wood & Co. . 
Wm. Stone's Estate, 
J. C. Risher, . 
Oeo. Lysle & Co. 
Oulp & Gamble, . . 
Horner & Roberts, . 
Robert Wood, . • 



Earrow, Gumbert & Co, 
Bobbins & Jenkins, 
Wm. Neil, .... 
W^m. Neil, .... 
Neil & Oliver, . . . 
Wm. H. Brown. f 



Acres 
Coal. 


Miles 

Pit 

Track 


^1 


Value. 




Value. 


QQ 


Value. 


200 
200 

100 



240 
325 
350 
450 
300 

15 
700 

70 
275 
140 

10 

10 
225 
550 


3 
5 
1 

3 
3 
3 
5 
3 
3 
4 
3 
3 
4 
2 
2 
3 
15 


1 

4 

4 
3 
4 
2 

1 

1 
2 

8 




10 

90 

113 

45 

6 

40 

40 

278 




8 



10 

20 

24 

10 

6 

8 
7 
2 
6 
4 

4 

47 










$ 3,000 
35,000 


1 5,000 


11,600 




2,500 


39,000 

48,000 

103,000 

55,000 




72,000 

56,500 

31,500 

3,000 


8,000 
6,000 
3,000 
1,800 
2,800 
2,100 
800 
2,400 
1,600 






28,000 




40,000 


40,000 




32,000 
270,000 


1,200 
14,100 


200,000 






*See Pool No. 1. fSee Pool No. 3. 

Table No. 1 of Colleries in Pool No. 3, of Monongahela River, 

SHOWING : 



Firm. 



Iron City Coal Co. 
Hedgens & Co. . . . 
Wm. C. Guffy, . . . 
Jno. Gilmore, . . . 
Jacob Tomar, Jr. . 
Robbins, Lynn & Co 
Harlem Coal Co. . . 
Stoft & Cocain, . . 
Harlem Coal Co. . . 

Staib & Co 

Harlem Coal Co. . . 
Robison Bros. . . 
Wm. H. Brown,^ . . 
Whigham, Bailey &;C 
Hiram Warne, ... 
Wm. H. Brown,* . 
Lindsey, McCutch- ^ 

eon & Griers . . J 

Henry Lloyd, 

Jno. Dippold, .... 
J. P. Walters & Co. . 
Jno. D. Negley, . . . 
Miller, Greenhalgh ) 

& Co / 

Louttit, Skillen & Co. 
Hodgson & Mort, . . 



Estab'd. 



1864 

1859 
1876 
1859 
1862 
1872 
1875 
1848 
1860 
1857 
1863 
1858 
1856 
1863 
1861 

1873 



1852 
1852 
1852 

1845 

1848 
1873 



Who By. 



Phillip & Mittenzw^ei, 



Blackmore & Nelson ' 
Jno. Gilmore, . . . 
Jno. Gilmore, . . . 
Milesville Coal Co. 

Staib & Co 

Stoft & Cocain, . . 
Shellin 



Rea & Rodgers, . 
H. H. Findley, . . 
R. & S. B. Robison, 
Black Diamond C. Co. 

Kirk & Berry 

Coulter & Co 

Jenkins & Bro 

Lindsey, McCutcheon 
& Griers. 



Cincinnati Coal Co. 
Cleveland Coal Co. 
Jas. K. Logan, . . . 

Jno. Jenkins 



Jas. Leech, . . . 
Hodgson & Mort, 



Office. 


Men 
75 


21st St., s. s. 




40 
50 


136 Water st. 


120 Water st. 


75 


Webster . . . 


50 


120 Water st. 


40 


Monon'la City 


40 


165 2nd av. . 


40 


Monon'la city 


50 


a a 


50 


11 li 


85 


Allegheny. . 


50 


25 Smithfield 


200 


Water st. . . 


60 


Monon'la City 


65 


25 Smithfield 


125 


Allegheny, . . 


90 


Pittsburgh, 


40 


a 


100 


a 


100 


u 


60 


120 Water St. 


80 


Elizabeth, . . 


30 


Coal Bluff, . . 


125 



Bush. Mined 
Yearly. 



1,200,000 
600,000 
600,000 
800,000 
700,000 
800,000 
500,000 
600,000 
700,000 
700,000 
1,000,000 
1,500,000 
1,500,000 
800,000 
500,000 
700,000 

680,009 

400,000 
800,000 
800,000 
720^000 



400,000 
800,000 



*See Pool No. 2. 



Table No. 2 op Collieries in Pool No. 3, 

SHOWING : 



Firm. 



Iron City Coal Co. . 
Hedgens k Co. . . 
Wm. C. GufFy, . . 
Jno. Gilmore, . . 
Jacob Tomar, Jr. . 
Robbins, Lynn & Co. 
Harlem Coal Co. 
Stoft & Cocain, . . 
Harlem Coal Co. . 
Staib & Co. . . . 
Harlem Coal Co. . 
Robison Bros. . . 
Wm. H. Brown, . . 
Whigham, Bailey & Co 
Hiram Warne, 
Wm. H. Brown, . 
Lindsay, McCutcheon & Co 
Henry Lloyd, . . . 
Jno. Dippold, . . 
J. P. Walteis & Co. 
John D. Negley, . 
Miller, Greenhalgh & Co 
Loutitt, Skillen & Co. 
Hodgson & Mort, . 



Wages, 


® 

o 


Value. 


Pit 
Cars. 

60 


Value. 


Improve- 
meuts. 


02 

£ 

O 


$40,000 


32 


110,000 


11,800 


|8,000 


8,000 


16 


3,200 


40 


1,200 


3,000 


— 


20,000 


22 


4,400 


52 


1,560 


5,000 


1 


40,000 


33 


6,900 


64 


1,920 


8,000 


6 


24,000 


12 


1,800 


45 


1,350 


2,500 


_ 


28,000 


17 


3,800 


75 


2,250 


3,000 


_ 


16,000 


6 


1,800 


40 


1,200 


15,000 


_ 


28,000 


1 


1,000 


28 


840 


7,000 


_ 


12,000 


10 


4,000 


60 


1,800 


5,000 


_ 


12,000 


32 


9,600 


60 


1,800 


5.000 


_ 


36,000 


8 


3,200 


75 


2,250 


10,000 


_ 


24,000 


18 


7,200 


40 


1,200 


16,000 


9 


48,000 


70 


28,000 


150 


4,500 


9,000 


_ 


70,000 


25 


7,500 


110 


3,300 




8 


24,000 


40 


12,000 


37 


1,110 




— 


30,000 


35 


14,000 


100 


3,000 


10,000 


_ 


30,000 


23 


7,500 


80 


2,400 


25,000 


— 


16,000 






60 


1,800 


10,000 





32,000 


20 


9,000 


85 


2,550 


10,000 


— 


28,000 


20 


5,000 


75 


2,250 . 


39,500 


— 


24,000 


40 


10,000 


68 


1,840 


7,000 


— 


40,000 


40 


12,000 


100 


3,000 


25,000 


1 


13,000 


15 


3,000 


27 


810 


3,000 


1 




18 


18,000 


75 


2,250 




— 



8 
5 

4 
8 
6 

4 

2 

e 
e 
& 
1 
& 

10 

4 
6 
4 

a 

7 
7 
4 
5 
3 
3 



Table No. 3 of Collieries in Pool No. 3, 

SHOWING : 



Firm. 



lion City Coal Co. . 
Hodgens & Co., . . 
Wm. C. Guffy, . . 
Jno. Gilmore, 
Jacob Tomar, Jr., . 
Bobbins Lynn & Co. 
Harlem Coal Co. 
Stoft & Cocain, . 
Harlem Coal Co. 
Staib & Co. . . . 
Harlem Coal Co. 
Robison Bros. . . 
Wm. H. Brown, . . 
Whigham, Bailey & Co 
Hiram Warne, 
Wm. H. Brown, . 
Lindsay, McCutcheon 

Griers, .... 
Henry Lloyd, . . 
John Dippold, 
J. P. Walters & Co. 
Jno. D. Negley, . . 
Miller, Greenhalgh & 
Loutitt, Skillen & Co 
Hodgson & Mart, 



.} 



Co 



Acres 
Coal. 



230 

82 

100 

187 

25 

380 

127 

80 

15 

90 

400 

300 

325 

275 

100 

1,000 

148 

650 
440 
120 
300 
225 
•15 
230 



Miles 

Pit 

Track 



1* 



1 
2 
1 
1 
i_ 

4 
1 

2 
5 
4 
3 



2 
6 

n 
1 






Value. 



115,000 



52,000 



14,000 



75,000 



7,000 
10,000 



25 



40 



60 



Value. 



$22,500 



34,000 



42,000 



400 



Value. 



13 


$3,900 


— 


13 


2,600 





10 


3,000 


— ' 


3 


900 


—^ 


5 


2,000 


— 


24 


9,600 





5 


7,000 





8 


2,400 


— ' 


22 


8,000 


— 


9 


3,600 


— 


— 




— — 



800 
1,200 



6 ^ 

O .-4 



Table No. 1 of Collieries in Pool No. 4, Monongahela River, 

SHOWING : 



Firm. 



J. S. Cunningham & Co 
Jos. Garrow, . . 
Morgan, Dickson & Co 
Crowthers & Musgrave, 
Bigley, Forsythe & Co 
J. S. Neel, 

E. C. Furlong & Co 
J. Leadbetter & Co 
J. W. Reed & Co. 
J. V. Smith & Co. 
Crow & Sons, . . 
Wood & Huston. . 

F. H. Coursin, . . 
Morgan & Dickson 
Jno. Steeft, .... 
Wellington & Troy 
Wellington k Troy 
Turnbull & Co. . 
Jas. Rutherford, . 
Frazier <fe Frye, . 
L. M. & W. F. Speer, 
Connecticut Coal Works 
Clark & McAlear 
J. W. Clarke, . 
J. W. Clarke, . 



Opened. 


Who By. 


Post OflRce. 


Men 


Bush. Mined 
Yearly. 


1852 


Thos. Fernam, . . . 


Brownsville, 


100 


1,000,000 


1875 


Jos. Garrow 


California, . 


20 


240,000 


1873 


N. W. Morgan, . . . 


Pittsburgh, . 


75 


800,000 


1870 


Smith & Wnrd, . . 


California, . 


35 


400,000 


1854 


Robt. Forsythe, . . 


Pittsburgh, . 


30 


720,000 


1853 


Moore k Young, . . 


u 


70 


1,200,000 


1871 


Geo. J. Long, . . . 


Pike Run, . . 


50 


600,000 


1874 


J. Leadbetter & Co. 


Pittsburgh, . 


40 


800,000 


1868 


Jesse Reed, 


i. 


40 


400,000 


1867 


S. E. Smith, .... 


Pike Run, . . 


40 


1,040,000 


1874 


Crow k Sons, .... 


u 


35 


600,000 


1862 


Wood k Huston, . . 


Greenfield, . 


50 


800.000 






McKeesport, 


60 


1,200.000 




1870 


Morgan k Lambert, 


Pittsburgh, . 


60 


700,000 


1870 


J. V. McDonald, . . 


u 


30 


400,000 


1850 


Henry Stiramel, . . 


Fayette City, 


24 


240,000 


1860 


J. F. & W. R. Troy, 


a 


30 


240,000 






u 


35 


600,000 




1865 


Jas. Rutherford, . . 


a 


40 


800.000 


1870 


Frazier k Frve, . . 


145 Water St. 


85 


1,343,940 


1869 


L. M. k W. F. Speer, 


Bellevernon, 


50 


700,000 


1865 




Fayette City, 


5 








1864 


McGowan k Connell 


Pittsburgh, . 


50 


400,000 


1864 


S. Clarke k Son, . . 


a 


75 


600,000 


1864 


S. Clarke k Son, . . 


u 


75 


600,000 



Table No. 2 of Collieries in Pool No. 4, 
showing: 



Firm. 


Wages. 


O 


Value. 


Pitt 
Cars. 


Value. 


Improve- 
ments. 


i 

o 


i 


J. S. Cunningham k Co. . 


S40,000 


1 


$ 500 


50 


|1,500 


114,400 


6 


Jos. Garrow, .... 




3,200 


2 


300 


6 


180 


2,400 


— 


1 


Morgan, Dickson k Co. 




40,000 


— 




30 


900 


4,000 


— 


4 


Crowthers k Musgrave, 




16,000 


1 


1,200 


20 


600 


10,000 


_ 


2 


Bigley, Forsythe & Co 






11,200 


2 


1,000 


14 


420 


3,000 


— 


2 


J. S. Neel, .... 






24,000 


2 


1,000 


50 


1,500 


6,000 


2 


2 


E. C. Furlong k Co. 






24,000 


2 


800 


30 


900 


20,000 


1 


2 


J. Leadbetter k Co. 






16.000 


2 


300 


36 


1,080 


15,000 


_ 


4 


J. W. Reed & Co. . 






16,000 


2 


1,300 


46 


1,380 


6,000 


_ 


5 


J. V. Smith, . . . 






3,200 


3 


600 


47 


1,410 


6,000 


_ 


4 


Crow k Sons, 






13,600 


1 


600 


35 


1,050 


8,000 


_ 


4 


Wood k Huston, 






13,600 


8 


4,000 


57 


1,710 


6,000 


1 


4 


F. H. Coursin, . . 






24,000 


12 


7,200 


45 


1,350 


40,000 


_ 


4' 


Morgan & Dickson, . 






24,000 


12 


7,200 


34 


1,020 


4,000 


_ 


4 


Jno. Steeft. . . , 






12,000 


3 


2,100 


20 


600 


8,000 


1 


2 


Wellington k Troy, 






5,600 


4 


800 


19 


570 


12,000 


— 


1 


Wellington k Troy, 






6,000 


22 


4,400 


14 


420 


3,000 


1 


1 


Turnbull & Co. . . 






13,600 


10 


2,000 


28 


840 


3,000 


— 


3 


Jas. Rutherford, 






14,000 


20 


6,000 


24 


720 


3.000 


_ 


3 


Frazier & Frye, . . 






32,000 


15 


7,500 


65 


1,950 


15,000 


_ 


8 


L. M. & W. T. Speer, 






32,000 


35 


8,750 


50 


1,500 


6,500 


1 


7 


Connecticut Coal Co. 






22,500 


6 


1,500 


15 


450 


4,500 


_ 


1 


J. W. Clarke, . . 






32,000 


30 


24,000 


100 


3,000 


15,000 


_ 


9 


J. W. Clarke, . . 






32,000 


30 


24,000 


100 


3,000 


15,000 


— 


9 


Clark & McAlear, . 






20,000 


20 


12,000 


50 


1,500 


15,000 


- 


5 



Table No. 3 of Collieries in Pool No. 4, 

SHOWING : 



Firm. 



J. S. Cunningham & Co., 
Jos. GaiTOw, . . . 
Morgan, Dickson & Co., 
Crowthers & Musgrave, 
Bigley, Forsythe & Co., 
J. S. Neel, . . 
E. C. Furlong, . 
J. Leadbetter & Co 
J. W. Reed & Co., 
J. P. Smith, . . 
Crow & Sons, 
Wood & Huston, 
P. H. Coursin, . 
Morgan & Dickson, 
Jno. Steeft, . . . 
Wellington & Troy, 
Wellington & Troy, 
Turnbull & Co., 
Jas. Rutherford, 
Frazier & Frye, . . 
L. M. & W. F. Speer, 
Ooonnecticut Coal Co 
Clark & McAleer, . 
J. W. Clarke, . . 
J. W. Clarke, . . 



Acres 
Coal. 



500 
13 
90 
60 
20 

125 
90 
90 
20 

440 

40 

140 

126 

90 

33 

100 

50 

160 

100 

250 

211 

200 

200 

200 



Miles 

Pitt 

Track. 



1^ 



1 

2 

1 
1 

2 

H- 

4 



ij 



1 
4 
1_ 
4 

1 
1 

3 
3 

1 

4 



Value. 



12,000 



4,500 



15,000 



15,000 
20,000 



53,000 



Value 



500 



4,800 
800 



300 



1,000 
6,400 
6,000 



1,600 



8,000 



5,280 



6 
2 

14 

10 
5 

10 
5 
5 

36 



11 

5 

5 

23 

13 

24 

6 



21 



Value. 



$2,400 
300 
5,600 
4,000 
2,000 
4,000 
1,000 
2,500 
9,000 



2,000 
3,200 
3,200 
3,300 



2,000 
2,000 
9,200 
2,600 
9,600 
1,800 



6,300 



In addition to these, there are a number of firms who not owning colleries, 
are dealers and shippers of coal and who obtain their coal from the various 
<jolleries by purchase. Owning towboats and barges of their own, they run 
coal to all the various ports below from Cincinnati to New Orleans, and also St. 
Louis and points on the upper Mississippi. 



Shippers (only) of Coal. 



Firm. 



Thos. Fawcett & Son, . 
Mulvegill, Gumbert & Co 
S. Roberts & Co. . 
R. &. J. Wotson, . 
S. Horner & Sons, . 
Riddle, Coleman & Co 
Miller, Lynn & Co. . 
Couch & Robinson, 
Thos. McGowan, 
Cumberland Coal Co. 
Hornet Coal Co. . . 
Dravo & McDonald, 
Jno. F. Dravo, . . 
Petrie & White, . . 
J. B. Sneathen & Co. 
C. S. Adams & Co. . 
Jas Neel & Co. . . 
Hays Coal Co. . . 



1 


Value. 


-1 


Value. 


1 


Value. 


50 

32 

25 

75 
52 

17 
8 
14 
25 
10 
20 

3 

3 

63 


40,000 


3 

1 
2 
2 
5 
4 


125,000 


10 

3 

6 

12 



2 
2 
3 
1 
3 

5 
3 

12 


4,000 


25,600 
20,000 
60,000 
30,000 


37,000 
60,000 

90,000 


900 
2,100 
3,600 


13,600 
6,400 
42,400 
20,000 
34,000 
16,000 




20,000 
25,000 
20,000 
20,000 
8,000 
4,000 

8,000 
10,000 
28,000 


700 
700 
900 
300 
1,500 




2,000 

900 

4,800 


18,000 

2,100 

63,000 



Office. 



87 Water street. 



118 Water street. 
158 First avenue. 
64 Water street. 
3 Smithfield st. 



136 Water street. 
145 Water street. 
Smithfield street. 
74 Water street. 
74 Water street. 
74 Water street. 
89 Water street. 
118 Water street. 
132 Water street. 
McKeesport. 
142 Water street. 



Q 



»2j 


i-3 


^ 


3 


o 


H 


Iz! 


« 
H 




a 


W 


^ 


}> 




I— ^ 


c 


ri 






D2 


w 


o 
a 





a 


l> 


cc 


u 


3 




a 







bd 




*Ti 









*-3 







.,■^t^f??^y^;./Mlf/u^A■'' /^^ Zr^/' 



INTERIOR OF A COAL MINE, 




,rto <reb6 'ath ^ tsb . 



COAL PIT MOUTH. 



In the Centennial Year. 



145 



In the foregoing presentation of the collieries on the four pools of the Monon- 
gahela slackwater, the amounts given as yearly mined are, while given nearly 
correct, not presented as the absolute turn out, although they are the approxi- 
mate yearly average in each case. The following table shows, however, absolute- 
ly the amount passing the locks of the Monongahela Navigation Co. for thirty-one 
years, and represents, the actual amount brought to the city, by that channel, 
for home consumption, and shipped down the Ohio during those years: 



Year. 




Pool No. 1. 
Bushels. 


Pool No. 2. 


Pool No. 3. 


Pool No. 4. 


Total. 




Bushels. 


Bushels. 


Bushels. 


Bushels. 


1 «^t-d 










737 150 


1845, 




2,527,879 


1,328,604 


314,342 


434,360 


4,605,185 


1846. 
1847, 




' 








7 778 911 




3,377,703 


4,188,258 


1,227,201 


851,965 


9,645,127 


1848, 




3,536,761 


3,986,643 


1,436,666 


859,291 


9,819,361 


1849. 




2,944,044 


4,420,347 


1,434,723 


909,393 


9,708,507 


1850, 




3,998,200 


5,540,470 


1,862,548 


906,749 


12,297,967 


1851, 




4,105,624 


5,846,168 


1,769,302 


800,134 


12,521,228 


1852. 




4,797,704 


7,188,539 


1,736,622 


907,976 


14,630,841 


1853, 
1854, 












15 716 367 




4,756,263 


9,251,532 


2,006,633 


1,317,518 


17,331,946 


1855, 




6,829,282 


11,485,072 


2,633,555. 


1,286,100 


22,234,009 


1856, 




3,910,978 


3,213,740 


1,031,613 


427,764 


8,584,095 


1857, 




7,859,775 


17,255,226 


2,731,959 


1,126,636 


28,973,596 


1858, 




7,082,600 


15,143,868 


2,500,025 


970,176 


25,696,669 


1859, 




7,591,500 


15,732,845 


3,469,137 


1,493,189 


28,286,671 


I860,* 




10,550,380 


20,861,200 


4,878,704 


1,603,346 


37,967,732 


1861, 




4,483,717 


11,495,900 


3,595,705 


1,296,400 


20,865,722 


1862, 




4,801,856 


10,094,100 


2,739,500 


948,500 


18,583,956 


1863, 




5,935,392 


14,182,600 


4,481,810 


1,844,450 


26,444,252 


1864, 




7,202,175 


18,415,700 


6,549,700 


2,903,342 


35,070,917 


1865,-5^ 




8,013,693 


19,132,400 


8,915,600 


3,402,200 


39,522,797 


1866,* 




8,813,200 


23,064,500 


7,577,600 


3,059.100 


42,615,300 


1867,* 




6,139,200 


16,075,200 


5,555,200 


2,274,900 


1 30,072,700 


1868,* 




8,796,400 


23.802,700 


7,622,600 


5,079,300 


1 38,301,000 


1869,* 




1 8,868,900 


29,129,800 


8,988,400 


5,525,500 


52,512,600 


1870,* 




8,070,700 


32,132,000 


10,012,400 


7,381,300 


57,596,400 


1871, 




6,966,200 


27,348,700 


8,300,400 


6,006,000 


48,621,300 


1872, 




8,989,000 


28,614,500 


9,176,000 


7,429,300 


54,208,806 


1873, 




7,820,100 


28,416,150 


9,619,628 


10,309,360 


56,173,238 


1874, 




9,113,500 


33,516,700 


11,440,800 


11,810,700 


; 65,881,700 


1875, 




9,200,300 


31,729,900 


7,911,900 


12,566,900 


61,409,000 


Total, . 


170,216,539 


389,347,313 


115,330,903 


.62,743,846 


737,931,101 



♦From Pool No. 5, there was in 1860. 54,100 bushels 
28,200; in 1868, 9,800; 1869, 23,600; in 1870, 20,000. 



in 1865, 58,900.; in^l866, 100,900; in 1867, 



The total amount of tolls paid in these twenty-eight years for the passing of 
this amount of coal was |1, 253, 041. 37. The bulk represents 7,380 acres of coal 
run out in the twenty-eight years. In the last five years the amount has averaged 
576 acres a year. 
10 



There are also anumber of persons engaged in the towing of coal and other- 
merchandise, with steam tow-boats, whose boats and barges are here given as- 
being, some directly and others indirectly, engaged in the coal trade of Pitts- 
burgh, and their exhibit is most fittingly presented in connection with the coal 

trade. 

Table of Coal Tow Boats and Barges as Classed Above. 



Firm or Owner. 



Capt. R. Craig, . . . 

Riddle & Co 

Capt. J. G. Fairfield, 
Capt. Longwell, . . . 
W. S. B. Hays, . . . 
Capt. Jos. Nixon, . . 
Jas. Smith & Co. . . 

L. Monell, 

M. Winnet, 

Thos. Chester, . . . . 
Cavitt, Reese & Co. 
Gray's Iron Line, . . 
Briggs & Keer, . . . 
Jos. Keeling & Sons, 
Fowler & Whitfield, . 



Office. 


^1 


Value. 


i 


Value. 




132 Water st. 
132 Water st. 
134 Water St. 


$ 8,000 

10,000 

6,000 

7,000 
10,000 

5,000 
5,000 

8,000 
78,000 
10,000 
10,000 


15 
3 

19 

11 
60 


$18,000 
2,400 

75,000 

8,800 

48,000 


1 

1 

1 

7 
11 
















94 Water st. 
118 Water St. 
118 Water St. 





^ Value. 



300 
300 
300 



2,450 

400- 

3,850 



A portion of this coal here calculated as passing from Pool No. 1, is from the 
colleries on the Youghiogheny river, the details of which are exhibited in a sim- 
ilar manner of those of the Monongahela river, in the tables showing the collier- 
ies on the line of the Pittsburgh and Connellsville Rail Road. 

The collieries on the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati & St. Louis Railway, are shown m 
the following table. The coal from these works is chiefly brought to Pittsburgh f 
some part of it is, however, shipped directly from the mines. The colleries ob 
this road extend along its line for a distance of 22 miles. 



Table No. 1 of Collieries on Pittsburgh, Cin. 

showing: 



St. Louis Rlilway. 



Firm. 



D. Steen & Son. . . . 
Fort Pitt Coal Co. . . 

F. C. Negley 

Mansfield Coal & Coke Co 
Dickson, Stewart & Co. 
Pitts.Nat.Coal & Coke Co 
Pitts. & Walnut Hill Co. 
Midway Coal & Coke Co. 
Hugh Richardson's Heirs 
Oak Ridge Coal Co. 
Wm. P. Rend & Co. . 
Robbins Block Coal Co. 



Estab'd. 



1860 
1865 
1865 
1865 
1866 
1866 
1866 
1870 
1872 
1873 
1873 
1874 



By. 



D. Steen 

Port Pitt Coal Co. . 
F. C. Negley. . . . 
Mansfield C. & C. Co. 
Dickson, Stewart & Co 
Pitts. Nat. C. & C. Co. 
Robbins & Raplee. . 
Midway Coal Co. . . 
Hugh Richardson. . 
Oak Ridge Coal Co. . 
Wm. P. Rend & Co. . 
T. B. Robbins. . . 



Post Office. 


Men 


Pittsburgh. 


161 




200 




165 




265 




103 




130 


Midway. 


125 


a 


130 


McDonald. 


60 


Oakdale. 


85 


Pittsburgh. 


275 


Midway. 


150 



Bush. Mined' 
Yearly. 



2,000,000 
1,000,000 
1,550,000' 
2,500,000' 
1,000,000 
1,500,000 
1,000,000 
1,040,000 
800,000 
900,000 
1,500,000 
1,500,000 



In the Centennial Year. 



147 



Table No. 2 of Collieries of Pittsburgh, Cincinnati & St. Louis Railway^ 

SHOWING : 



style of Firm. 



F. C. Negley 

Pitts. Nat. Coal & Coke Co 
Fort Pitt Coal Co. . . 
Mansfield Coal & Coke Co 
Dickson, Stewart k Co. 
W. P. Rend & Co. . . 
D. Steen k Son. ... 
Huntsman, Miller & Co. 
Hugh Richardson's Heirs 
Pitts. & Walnut Hill Co. 
Robbins Block Coal Co. 
Midway Coal Co. . . 
Oak Ridge Coal Co. 



Wages 
Paid. 


i 

o 


Value. 


Pit 
Cars. 


Value. 


ImproTe- 
ments. 


i 


$65,000 


2 


1 1,000 


175 


$5,250 


$73,000 


18 


67,000 


26 


10,400 


200 


6,000 


26,000 


2 


45,000 


38 


11,400 


175 


5,250 


55,000 


_ 


100,000 


20 


8,000 


200 


6,000 


40,000 


1 


47,000 


22 


8,800 


40 


1,200 


14,000 


— 


65,000 


22 


13,200 


140 


4,200 


35,000 


4 


70,000 


29 


11,600 


90 


2,700 


22,000 


20 


24,000 


19 


5,700 


100 


3,000 


2,000 


^__ 


24,000 


4 


1,600 


45 


1,350 


4,500 


-^=- . 


50,000 


9 


5,600 


100 


3,000 


30,000 


3 


75,000 


13 


11,700 


140 


4,200 


30,000 


5 


45,000 


15 


7,500 


90 


2,700 


20,000 


— 


40,000 


2 


1,600 


36 


1,080 


15,000 


— 



20 
16 
15 
1^ 
5 
22- 

1 
4 
§ 
9 
7 
2 



Table No. 3 of Collieries on Pittsburgh, Cincinnati & St. Louis Railway^ 

showing: 



Style of Firm. 



F. C. Negley, 

Huntsman, Miller & Co. 
Pitts. Nat'l Coal & Coke 
Fort Pitt Coal Co. . . 
Mansfield Coal & Coke Co 
Hugh Richardson's Heirs, 
Dickson, Stewart & Co. 
W. P. Rend & Co. . . . 
Oak Ridge Coal Co. 
D. Steen & Son, . . . 
Pittsburgh & Walnut Hill 
Robbins Block Coal Co. 
Midway Goal Co. 



Co 



Co 



Acres jNo. of 

of R. R. 

Coal. Cars. 



653 
350 
400 
380 
800 
30 
440 
233 
250 
136 
600 
200 
100 



111 
45 
66 

67 

78 

26 

420 

19 

90 

150 



Value. 



$30,000 
15,000 
23,600 
18,200 
32,800 



7,800 

100,000 

11,400 

36,000 

90^000 



Miles 

Pit 

Track 



6 
6 
6 
5 

6 
1 

2 

H 

2 

41 
5 
3 

4 



No. of 
Coke 
Ovens. 



16 
22 



Value. 



4,200 
5,500 



750 



8 2,000 



Bush, of 
Coke. 



180,000 
400,000 



65,000 



400,000 



Another division of the Pittsburgh coal and coke trade is along the Con- 
nellsville & Pittsburgh Railroad and the Youghiogheny river. The principal 
portion of this is transported by the railroad. It is along this line of road that 
the famous Connellsville coke is so largely produced, from the coal of this sec- 
tion. 

The following tables exhibit the cokeries along the road and its branches, 
and present the details of their working status. 



Table No. 1 of Cokeries on Pittsburgh & Connbllsville Railroad, 

SHOWING : 



Finn. 



Tyrone Mines. . . . 
Con'llsville Gas Coal Co. 
Pitts. & Con. a.C.&C. Co. 

Frick & Co 

J. M. Cochran. . . . 
Brown k Cochran. . . 
Waverly Coal & Coke Co. 

Thos. Moore 

Lemont Furnace Co. . 
Youghiogheny C.&O.Co. 
N. J. Bigley 



Estab'd 



1858 
1865 
1865 
1871 
1870 
1854 
1873 
1863 
1875 
1863 
1846 



Who by. 



Laughlin & Co. 
C. G. C. Co. . . . 
P. & C. G. C. &Co. 
Frick & Co. . . . 
J. M. Cochran. . . 
Jas. Cochran & Bros. 
Waverly C.&C. Co. 
Thos. Moore. . . 
Lemont F. Co. . . 
Yough. C. & C. Co. 
N. J. Bigley. . . . 



P. 0. 


Men. 


Pittsburgh. 
Con'llsville 


61 
85 


Con'llsville 


225 


Broad Ford 


175 


li 


40 


11 


400 


Pittsburgh 


200 


Moore's Sta. 


350 


Pittsburgh 


200 
250 


Pittsburgh 


175 



Bushels of 
Coke a Year 



,000,000 
,190,000 
,694,000 
,745,000 
,460,000 
,950,000 
,500,000 



1,678,000 
894,250 



*Product used entirely by the Eliza Furnace. 

Table No 2 of Cokeries on Pittsburgh & Connbllsville Railroad, 

showing: 



Firm. 



Tyrone Mines, . . , . 
Connellsville Gas Coal Co. 
Pitts. & Conns. G. C. & C. Co, 
Frick & Co. .... . 

J. M. Cochran & Co. . . 
Brown & Cochran. . . . 

Waverly Coal Co. . 
Lemont Furnace Co.* . . 
Youghioghen}^ C. & C. Co. 

N. J. Bigley 

Thos. Moore 



Wages. 




Value. 


Pit 
Cars. 


Value. 


Improve- 
ments. 


i 

o 


$30,000 
38,250 

101,250 
78,750 
18,000 

180,000 
90,000 


30 
40 
80 
53 
9 
146 
74 
40 
45 
40 
45 


$12,000 
17,000 
24,000 
45,000 
4,500 
72,000 
18,000 
12,000 
36,000 
18,000 
45,000 


40 

60 

75 

70 

28 

180 

140 

24 

107 

100 

120 


$1,200 
1,800 
2,250 
2,100 

840 
5,400 
4,200 

720 
3,210 
3,000 
3,600 


$ 50,000 

136,590 

80,000 

35,000 

200,000 

72,500 

61,000 

110,000 


6 

12 

1 

34 
3 

12 
4 
4 
6 


112,800 

80,000 

157,500 



4 

4 
13 

5 
11 
15 
15 
13 
12 

8 



* See Uniontown Branch. 

Table No. 3 of Cokeries on the Pittsburgh & Connbllsville R. R. 

showing : 



Firm. 



Tyrone Mines, 

Connellsville Gas Coal < o. . . . 
Pitts. & Conn. Gas Coal k Coke Co. 

Frick & Co . . 

J. M. Cochrane 

Brown k Cochrane 

Waverly Coal k Coke Co 

Thos. Moore 

Lemont Furnace Co 

Youghiogheny Coal and Coke Co. . 
N. J. Bigley 





No. 




Miles 




Acres of 


R. R. 


Value. 


Pit 


Coke 


Coal. 


Cars, 




Track 


Ovens. 




30 


$ 15,000 


_ 


120 


3,100 


24 • 


14,400 


3 


100 


350 


147 


88,200 


3 


253 


280 


15 


9,000 


3 


200 


140 
650 






13 


63 
441 


180 


108,000 


1,000 


74 


40,400 


3 


20 


537 


41 


24,600 


3 


30 


300 


6 


1,200 


2 


105 


1,000 


113 


67,800 


3 


20 


195 


56 


33,600 


3 


35 



Value. 



$30,000 

25,000 

63,250 

54,250 

15,750 

110,250 

6,000 

7,500 

26,000 

5,000 

8,750 



In the Centennial Year. 



149 



Table No. 1 of Cokeries on Uniontown Branch, P. & C. R. R. 

SHOWING : 



Firm. 


Estab'd. 


Who By. 

■ 


P. 0. Address. 


Men 

80 


Bush, of Coke. 


Hogsett, Watt & Co. 


1871 


Hogsett, Watt «fe Co. 


Mt. Braddock. 


2,340,000 


Hogsett & Beal, 


1871 


E.M.Furguston&Co 


Mt. Braddock. 


50 


1,820,000 


Lemont Furnace Co. 


1875 


Lemont Furnace Co. 


Lemont station 


_ 


1,664,000 


T. H. Frost & Son, 


1865 


Thomas H. Frost. . 


Frost station. 


50 


93,600- 


T. W. Watt & Co. . 


1868 


Taylor, Watt & Co. 


Dunbar, . . 


72 


1.533,000 


Paul, Brown & Co. 


1871 


Paul, Brown & Co. 


Dunbar, 


100 


2,190,000 


R. Henderson & Co. 


1872 


R. Henderson & Co. 


Dunbar, 


70 


1,752,000 



*Supplies Railroad with 1,095,000 bush, uf coal in addition. 

Table No. 2 of Cokeries on Uniontown Branch of P. 

showing: 



C. Railroad. 



Firm. 


Wages. 


i 

o 


Value. 


Pit 
Cars. 


Value. 


Improve- 
ments. 


1 


i 


Hogsett, Watt & Co. 
Hogsett & Beal. . . 
Lemont Furnace Co. 
T. H. Frost & Co. . 
T. W. Watt & Co. . 
Paul, Brown & Co. . 
R. Henderson & Co. 






$36,000 
22,500 
21,000 
22.500 
32,400 
45,000 
31,500 


35 

20 

6 
15 

8 

8 


$15,000 
12,000 

1,800 
6,250 
5,000 
3,200 


50 

30 

24 

16 . 

25 

35 

25 


1,500 
900 
720 
480 
750 

1,050 
'750 


$75,000 
25,000 
48,000* 

5,000 
30,000 
30,000 
30,000 


.2 
2 

1 

1 
6 


5 
2 

T 

6 

4 
4 



*See previous table. 



Table No. 3 of Cokeries on Uniontown Branch of P. k C. Railroad, 

showing: 



Firm. 


Acres 
Coal. 


No. Rail 
Cars. 


Value, 


Miles 

Pit 
Track. 


/ Coke 
Ovens. 


Value. 


Hogsett, Watt & Co. . . . 


400 




_ 


5 


130 


$32,500 


Hogsett k BeaL . 






100 


- 


— 


2 


70 


17,500 


Lemont Furnace Co. 






300 


6 


$3,600 


2 


105 


26,250 


T. W. Watt & Co. . 






90 


— 


— 


2 


60 


15,000 


Paul, Brown k Co. 






100 


_ 





2 


100 


25,000 


P. Henderson k Co. 






100 


6 


3,600 


IJ 


70 


17,500 


T. H. Frost k Co. . 






75 


- 


— 


1 


5 


1,250 ~ 



Table No. 1 of Cokeries on Mt. Pleasant Branch of P. & C. R. R. 

SHOWING : 





Estab- 






P 


Bush Coke 


Firm. 


lished. 


Who By. 


Post Office. 


S 


Yearly. 


Wm. Duncan & Bio. . 


1872 


W. k J. Duncan, . . 


Mt. Pleasant, 


15 


468,000 


Wm. L. Mullen, . . 


1872 


W. D. Mullen & Co. . 


u 


27 


842,400 


Boyle & Hazlett, . . 


1872 


John Moyer, .... 


'^ 


35 


1,950,000 


Boyle & Hazlett, . . 


1872 


Boyle & Hazlett, . . 


'.' 


32 


1,560,000 


John T. Stauffer, . . 


1873 


Jno. T. Stauffer, . . 


Stauffer Sta'n 


8 


312,000 


Cochran & Ewring, . 


1874 


Cochran & Ehring, 


a 


21 


936,000 


J. T. Overholt, . . . 


1874 


J. T: Overholt, . . . 


Mt. Pleasant, 


15 


624,000 


Markle & Co. ... 


1874 


Markle & Co. . . . 


West Overton 


50 


1,456,000 


J. Stauft & Co. . . . 


1874 


J. Stauft k Co. . . . 


u 


10 


312,000 


Israel Painter, . . . 


1874 


Painter k Strickler, . 


CI 


24 


1,144,000 


A. S. R. Overholt & Co. 


1874 


A. S. R. Overholt k Co. 


cc 


26 


1,248,000 


J. P. Stauffer k Co. . 


1875 


J. P. Stauffer k Co. . 


a 


20 


702,000 


Imhsen, Lake & Co. . 


1875 


Imhsen, Lake k Co. . 


Scottdale, 


16 


800,000 


W. A. Keifer, . . . 


1872 


W. A. Keifer, . . . 


Fount'n Mills 


5 


208,000 


Morgan & Co. . . . 


1858 


A. S. M. Morgan, . . 


Broadford, 


70 


2,184,000 


Strickler & Lane, . . 


1873 


Strickler k Lane, . . 


a 


22 


936,000 


Markle, Sherrick & Co. 


1871 


Markle, Sherick k Co. 


Sherritt Sta'n 


75 


2,184,000 


Hurst, Moore & Co. . 


1871 


Hurst, Moore k Co. . 


Broadford, 


60 


2,372,500 


C. H. Armstrong & Son 


1875 


C. H. Armstrong k Co. 


a 


60 


1,560,000 


A. A. Hutchinson & Bro. 


1872 


A. A. Hutchinson k Bro. 


a 


60 


1,560,000 


Cochran & Strickler, . 


1864 


Cochran k Strickler, . 


u 


17 


611,750 


Laughlin & Co. . . . 









— 









Table No. 2 of Cokeries on Mt. Pleasant Branch op P. k C. Railroad, 

showing: 



Firm. 



Wm. Duncan. 
Wm. L. Mullen. . 
Boyle k Hazlett. 
Boyle k Hazlett. 
John T. Stauffer. 
Cochran k Ewing. 
J. T. Overholt. . 
Markle & Co. . . 
J. Stauft k Co. . 
Israel Painter. 
A. S. R. Overholt k Co 
J. P. Stauffer k Co 
Imhsen, Lake k Co 
W. A. Kiefer. . . 
Morgan k Co. 
Strickler k Lane. 
Markle, Sherrick k Co 
Hurst, Moore k Co. 
C. H. Armstrong k Son. 
A. A. Hutchinson k Bro. 
Cochran k Strickler. . 



Wages. 


o 


Value. 


Pit 

Cars. 


Value. 


Improve- 
ments. 


i 


$ 6,750 


5 


$ 2,500 


12 


|360 


$ 9,500 


3 


12,150 


8 


4,000 


18 


540 


19,000 


2 


15,750 


14 


3,500 


31 


930 


30,000 


3 


14,850 


8 


2,400 


28 


840 


24,000 


3 


3,600 


5 


1,000 


6 


180 


6,000 


2 


9,450 


5 


3,000 


14 


420 


20,000 




6,750 


4 


1,600 


11 


330 


15,000 


3 


22,250 


8 


2,000 


24 


720 


30,000 


4 


4,500 


3 


600 


9 


270 


4,500 


3 


10,800 


6 


2,300 


19 


510 


24,000 


6 


11,700 


5 


9,000 


23 


690 


29,000 


5 


9,000 


4 


1,800 


16 


480 


14,000 


4 


7,200 


4 


1,400 


16 


■ 480 


15,500 


1 


2,250 


2 


500 


3 


90 


5,000 


1 


31,500 


25 


20,000 


40 


1,200 


60,000 


1 


9,900 


5 


6,000 


14 


420 


20,000 


— 


33,750 


20 


10,000 


35 


1,050 


45,000 


1 


27,000 


20 


10,000 


28 


840 


45,000 


1 


27,000 


40 


30,000 


40 


1,200 


46,000 


1 


27,000 


15 


9,000 


30 


900 


40,000 


1 


6,650 


5 


2,500 


14 


420 


15,000 


- 



s 



In the Centennial Year, 



151 



Table No. 3 of Cokeries on Mt. Pleasant Branch of P. & C. Railroad, 

SHOWING : 



Firm. 


Coal 

Acres. 


No. Rail 
Cars. 


• 
Yalue. 


Miles 

Pit 

Track. 


Coke 
Ovens. 


Talue. 


Wm. Duncan k Bro. . . . 


140 






1 


28 


$ 7,000 


Wm. L. Mullen. . 






100 


— 


— 


n 


80 


20,000 * 


Boyle & Hazlett. . 






80 


— 


— 


n 


100 


25,000 


Boyle & Hazlett. . 






120 


— 


— 


n 


80 


20,000 


John T. Stauffer. . 






80 








i 


20 


5,000 


Cochran & Ewing. 






110 








n 


63 


15,750 


J. T. Overholt. . 






40 


— 


— 


1 


120 


30,000 


Markle & Co. . . 






130 


— 


— 


2 


70 


17.500 


-J. Stauft & Co. . 






90 


— 


— 


1^ 


18 


4,500 


Israel Painter. 






120 








1 


70 


17,500 


A. S. R. Overholt k ( 


:!o. 




180 








^ 


62 


15,500 


J. P. Stauffer k Co. 






80 


— 


— 


1 


40 


10,000 


Imhsen, Lake k Co. . 






110 


— 


— . 


H 


50 


12,500 


W. A. Kiefer k Co. 






30 


— 


— 


1 


12 


3,000 


-Morgan k Co. . . . 






600 


160 


$96,000 


3 


111 


27,700 


Strickler k Lane. . 






55 


— 


— 


U 


44 


11,000 


Markle, Sherrick & Co. . . 




125 


45 


27,000 


2h 


80 


20,000 


Hurst, Moore & Co. . . . 




100 


— 


— 


1 


101 


25,250 


C. H. Armstrong k Son. 




80 


30 


18,000 


2 


63 


15,750 


A. A. Hutchinson k Bro. . 




140 


25 


15,000 


3 


80 


20,000 


Cochran k Strickler. 




48 


— 


— 


U 


35 


8,750 


Xaughlin & Co. ... 




— 


— 


— 




— 





Table No. 1 of Cokeries on South-West R. R. Branch, P. & C. R. R. 

S-HOWING : 



rirm. 


Estab- 
lished 


By. 


Post Office. 

Pittsb'gh. 
Pittsb'gh. 


50 
30 


Bush. Coke. 
Yearly. 


Dillinger, Sherrick k Co 
Dillinger, Suttle k Co. 


1873 
1873 


Dillinger, Sherrick k Co 
Dillinger, Suttle k Co. 


1,632,000 

828,000 



Table No. 2 of Cokeries on South-West R. R. Branch, P. k C. R. R. 

SHOWING : 



Firm. 


Wages. 


i 


Value. 


No.Pit 
Cars. 


Value. 


Other Im- 
provemt's. 


i 

c 


i 


Dillinger, Sherrick k Co. 
Dillinger, Suttle k Co. . 


$24,500 
13,500 


16 


$5,000 


18 

12 


$540 
360 


$7,000 
5,000 


4 


3 

4 



152 



Pittsburgh and Allegheny 



Table No. 3 of Cokeries on South-West R. R. Branch, P. & C. R. R. 

showing: 



Firm. 



Dillinger, Sherrick & Co \ . ... . 

Dillinger, Suttle & Co | 90 



Acres 
of Coal. 



140 



Miles of 

Pit 

Track. 



Coke 
Ovens. 



70 
41 



Value. 



$17,500 
10,250 



Table No. 1 of Collieries on Youghioghbny River, 
showing: 



Firm. 


Estab'd. 


By. 


Post Office. 


Men. 


Bush, of Coal 
Yearly. 


James O'Neal, . . 
John iPenny, . . 


1865 
1848 


James O'Neal, . 
John Penny, 


McKeesport, . 
McKeesport, . 


100 
140 


I,000,0d0 
700,000^ 



*Also 50,000 bushels of coke — eight coke ovens. 



Table No. 2 of Collieries on Youghiogheny River, 
showing: 



Firm. 


Wages. 


i 

m 



O 


Value. 


Pit 

Cars. 


Value. 


Improve- 
ments. 


Acres. 


James O'Neal, .... 
John Penny, .... 


156,000 
56,000 


14 
29 


111,200 
6,000 


130 
110 


$3,900 
3,300 


$166,000 
25,000 


225 

50' 



Table No. 3 of Collieries on Youghiogheny River, 
showing: 



Firm. 


i 

be 


Value. 


Flats. 


Value. 


Miles 

Pit 
Track 


OS 

1 


Mules 


Tow 
boats. 


Value. 


James O'Neal, . 
John Penny, 


• 

4 

25 


$ 3,200 
20,000 


10 

4 


$4,000 
1,200 


2 
3 


2 
6 


10 

12 


1 


$20,000 



In the Centennial Year. 



153 



Table No. 1 of Collieries on Pittsburgh & Connellsville R. R. 

SHOWING : 



Firm. 


Estab'd. 


Who By. 


Post Office. 


Men. 


Bush. Coal 
Yearly. 


Youghiogheny \ 
Nat. Coal Co. / 


1863 


Blackburn & Co. 


West Newton, 


50 


1,560,000 


Waverly Coal Co. 
Heath & White, . 


1863 
1872 


Waverly Coal Co. 
Heath & White, . 


Pittsburgh, 
West Newton, 


-X- 

100 


700,000 
1,300,000 


Penn Gas Coal Co. 


1857 


Penn Gas Coal Co. 


Irwin Sta'n,P.R.E,. 


— 


4,000,000 


Thos Moore, . . 


1863 


Thos. Moore, . . 


Pittsburgh, 


-5^ 


4,000,000 


C. H. Armstrong ) 
& Sons, . J 

Wm. H. Brown, . 

Youghiogheny ^ 
C.&CokeCo. J 


1862 
1863 
1863 


C. H. A. & Sons, 
J Duncan, Con- ") 
t nell & Co. / 
Y. C. & C. Co. . 


u 


275 

250 

-K- 


2,400,000 
4,500,000 
2,400,000 


N. J. Bigley, . . 


— 


N. J. Bigley, . . 


a 


— 





*In cokeries. 



Table No. 2 of Collieries on Pittsburgh & Connellsville R. R. 

showing: 



Firm. 



Youghiogheny ) 
Nat. Coal Co. / 

Waverly Coal Co. 

Heath & White, . 

Thos. Moore, . 

C. H. Armstrong ^ 
& Sons, . J 

W. H. Brown, . 

Youghiogheny |^ 
C.&CokeCo. J 

N.J. Bigley, . . 

Penn Gas Coal Co. 



Wages. 


O 


Value. 


Pit 
Cars. 


Value. 


Improve- 
ments. 


Acres. 
Coal. 


o 


1 


1 22,500 

45,000 

123,000 
111,500 

4f 


9 

65 
40 

22 


1 2,700 


25 

50 

110 
200 

85 


1 750 


$75,000 


460 
300 

130 

299 

2,500 


4 
4 

2 


3 

6 

8 
11 

15 




1,500 


30,000 




52,000 
16,000 


3,300 
6,000 


75,000 
50,000 








22,000 


2,550 


60,000t 





Pit 

Track 



10 



*In cokeries. f Have in addition 14 miles of T track, $50,000 ; one locomotive and passenger car, 
$15,000 ; 225 railroad freight cars, $135,000. 

From these tables it would appear that there are in this division of the Pitts- 
burgh coal trade, forty-eight cokeries. This coke is principally shipped to westerly 
points, although some is transported to the East, and a portion consumed at 
home. 



154 



Pittsburgh and Allegheny 



The following tables give the collieries on the line of the Pennsylvania Rail- 
road, as far out as Irwin's station, which works may properly be classed in the 
coal trade of Pittsburgh : 

Table No. 1 of Collieries on the Pennsylvania Rail Road, 

SHOWING : 



Firm. 


§•2 


Who By. 


Post Office. 


Men. 


Bushels Mined 
in a Year. 


BraddocksfieldG.C.Oo 
Penn Gas Coal Co.-^^ . 
Shafton G-as Coal Co. 
Westmoreland Gas 1 

Coal Co.^^ ... J 
Oarnegie & Co. J . . 
New York & Cleve- \ 

land Gas C. Co.f / 


1857 
1854 

1854 

1871 

1872 


Huntsman & Miller. 
Seanor & Robinson. 
Wm. B. Hays. . . 
/ Westmoreland 1 
1 G. C. Co.; 
Carnegie & Co. . . 

N. Y. C. G. Co. . . 


Irwin Station 

a 

iC 

Larimer Sta. 
89 Wood St. . 


. 80 

1,100 

100 

629 

60 

700 


1,000,000 

13,000,000 

1,300,000 

13,000,000 
13,000,000 



*7 mines and 8 engines 
t7 mines, 2 locomotives. 



** 8 mines, 3 engines, 1 locomotive. 

JCokery, making coke from slack by patent process. 



Table No. 2 of Collieries on the Pennsylvania Railroad, 

SHOWING : 



Firm. 


Wages 
Paid. 


o 


Value. 


Pit 

Cars. 


Value. 


Improve- 
ments. 


i 
i 

■ 




Braddocksfield Gas Coal Co. 
Penn Gas Coal Co. . . . 
Shafton Gas Coal Co. . . 
Westmoreland Gas Coal Co. 

Carnegie & Co 

N. Y.& Cleveland Gas Coal Co. 


'36,000 
500,000 

50,000 
500,000 

25,000 
400,000 


10 
200 

50 

200 

5 

20 


3,000 

100,000 

20,800 

100,000 

2,500 

10,000 


60 
600 

80 
700 

40 
425 


1,800 
18,000 

2,400 
21,000 

1,200 
12,750 


200,000 
20,000 

200,000 
95,000 

300,000 


1 

15 

1 

10 

- 


15 
80 

6 
90 

5 
65 



Table No. 3 of Collieries on Pennsylvania Rail Road. 



Firm. 



Braddocksfield Gas Coal Co. . . . 

Penn Gas Coal Co 

Shafton Gas Coal Co 

Westmoreland Gas Coal Co. . . . 

Carnegie & Co."^ 

New York & Cleveland Gas Coal Co. 



Acres 


No. of 




Miles 


R.R. 


of 


R. R. 


Yalue 


Pit 


Side 


Coal. 


Cars. 




Track 


Track 


5 


81 


1 32,500 


6 


_ 


4,500 


1,000 


600,000 


35 


10 


400 


125 


75,000 


3 


* 


9,000 


1,200 


720,000 


45 


m 


17 


— 




i 


i 


1,700 


315 


167,400 


65 


4 



Value. 



$100,000 

15,000 

100,000 

400 

40,000 



*120 Coke ovens of a value of $30,000, producing 1,500,000 bushels coke. 



In the Centennial Year, 



155 



A fifth division of the collieries of the Pittsburgh coal trade lies along the 
Allegheny Valley Railroad, and are as follows : 

Table No. 1 of Collieries on the Allegheny River. 

\ SHOWING : 



Firm. 


11 

S;2 


Who By. 


Post Office. 


a 
® 


Bush. Mined 
in a Year. 


Armstrong, Dickson & Co. 

P. Y. Hite 

Etna & Vesuvius.* . . 
Mahoning Coal Co. . . 
LoyalHannaC.&CokeCo. 


1863 
1858 

1873 
1873 


Armstrong & Co. . 
H. P. Hite. . . . 
Spang & Co. . . 
Mahoning Coal Co. 
LoyalHannaC.&C.Co 


Pittsburgh. . 
Tarentum. . 
Pittsburgh. . 
376 Penn st. 
376 Penn st. 


150 

75 

70 

75 

180 


1,800,000 
1,000,000 
1,350,000 
1,003,280 
3,900,000 



* Worked jointly by those two rolling mills for their own supply. 



Table No. 2 of Collieries on the Allegheny River. 

showing 



Firm. 


Wages. 


o 


Value. 


Pit 
Cars. 


Value. 


Improve- 
ments. 




1 


Armstrong, Dickson & Co. . 

P. Y. Hite, 

Etna & Vesuvius, . . . ; 
Mahoning Coal Co. . . . 
Loyal Hanna Coal & Coke Co. 


$50,000 
40,000 
45,000 
35,000 
80,000 


25 
35 
12 
30 
25 


$ 7,500 

17,500 

6,000 

15,000 

20,000 


175 

45 

70 

50 

100 


$5,250 
1,350 
2,100 
1,500 
3,000 


$60,000 
20,000 

30,000 
25,000 


16 
15 


20 
9 
6 



Table No. 3 of Collieries on the Allegheny River, 
showing: 



Firm. 



Armstrong, Dickson & Co. . 

P. Y. Hite, 

Etna & Vesuvius, 

Mahoning Coal Co 

Loyal Hanna Coal & Coke Co."^ 



Acres of 


No. of j 


Coal. 


R. R. Cars. 


300 


67 


550 


78 


325 


36 j 


600 


— 


1200 





Value. 


MilesPit 
Track. 


$134,000 
25,000 
12,600 


7 
2 
3 
2 
2 



Locomo- 
tives. 



*100 Coke Ovens, of a value of $25,000, producing 1,800,000 bushels coke a year. 



156 



Pittsburgh and Allegheny 



In addition to these distinct divisions of the coal trade, the works of which 
are beyond the city, there are a number of others whose collieries are within, 
the limits of the corporate city. Those are shown in the subjoined table. 

Table No. 1 op Collieries and Cokeries in and around the City of PiTTSBURan,. 

SHOWING : 



Firm. 



Keeling & Co. . . 

Gray & Bell, . . 

Gray & Bell, . . 

Gray & Bell, . . 

Hartley & Marshall, 

Wettengle & Gormly 
Jas. Lindsay & Co. 
Jones & Laughlins,"^' 
C. H. Armstrong, Jr., 
C.H.Armstrong&Son 
Castle Shannon R. R. 
John Stacy & Co. . 
Peter Moul, . . . 



Estab'd. 



1861 
1853 
1857 
1866 

1851 

1870 
1873 

1856 
1864 
1871 
1852 
1856 



By. 



Keeling & Co. . . 
A. Carnahan, 
A. K. Lewis, . . 
Wm. Chess, . . . 
/Little Saw Miin 
t R. R. Co. / 
Wettengle & Gormly 
Jas. Lindsay & Co. 



John McClaren, 
C. H. Armstrong, . 
Castle Shannon R. R. 
Wm. York, . . . 
G. & L. Moul, . . 



Location. 



25th & Jos'ine 
35th ward. 
35th ward, 
35th ward, 

36th ward, 

34th ward, 
6 Wood St. 



89 Wood St. 
36th ward, 
Allegheny, 



Men. 



490 

80 

100 

145 

100 

75 
15 

35 
14 
400 
12 
15 



Bush, mined 
yearly. 



5,000,000 
1,250,000 
1,250,000 
1,000,000- 

1,000,000- 

1,000,000' 
400,000 



f 

— t 
4,000,000 

260,000J; 

500,0001 



*Mine for use of American Rolling Mills only. Amount included in consumption of coal by 
Rolling Mills. fSee Table No. 3. JOoke. 



Table No. 2 of Collieries and Cokeries in and around Pittsburgh, 

showing: 



Firm. 



Keeling & Co. . . . 
Gray & Bell. . . . 
Gray & Bell. . . . 
Gray & Bell. . . . 
Hartley & Marshall. 
Wettengle & Gormly. . 
James Lindsay & Co. . 
C. H. Armstrong, Jr., . 
C. H. Armstrong & Son, 
Castle Shannon R. R. 
Jno. Stacy & Co. . . 
Peter Moul 



$140,000 

60,000 

60,000 

51,000 

25,000 

24,000 

9,000 

20,000 

10,000 

200,000 

2,100 

7,500 



40 



35 

2 
15 



Value. 



$20,000 



3,600 



30 i 11,250 
14,000 



1,000 
6,000 



200 



Pit 

Cars. 



Value. 



500 

75 



$15,000 
2.250 



Improve- 
ments. 



80 


2,400 


230 


6,900 


100 


3,000 


35 


1,050 


10 
500 


300 




20,000 


2 


60 





$30,000 
20,000 

130,000 

100,000 
4,000 
7,000 
2,000 
9,000 
7,000 

226,934^ 



50 



11 

48 
3 
3 
3 

10 
7 

22 



50 
8 
7 

10 
5. 

12 
1 

26 
3 

56 



*Includes 8 miles railroad, 2 incline planes and 2 tunnels. 



In the Centennial Year. 



157 



Table No. 3 op Collieries and Cokeries in and around Pittsburgh. 

SHOWING : 



Firm . 



^ No. 
Acres oft r ^ 

Coal, i Cars. 



Value. 



Keeling & Co 430 

<3-ray & Bell, 400 

'Gray & Bell 40 

'Gray & Bell 200 

Hartley & Marshall, ' 150 

Wettengle & Gormly. 150 

James Lindsay & Co 50 



O. H. A.rmstrong, Jr. . 
€. H. Armstrong k Son, 
Castle Shannon R. R. . 

■Jno. Stacy & Co 

Peter Moul 



920 



j OVENS 

' 52 
! 28 



16 
28 



13,000 
7,000 



60 




$12,000 



Miles 

Pit 

Track 



10 
3 
3 
3 
4 
9 
3 






I Coke ! 
Ovens. I 



3* 

2 



! 12 



4,000 
6,000 



12 



Bushels 
• Coke. 



80,000 



iOO.OOO 



1000,000 
600,000 



*1 Towboat, $15,000 : 48 Barges, $40,000 ; 1 Flat. 

From these tables it would appear that the coal trade is naturally divided 
into six distinct divisions. While its centre is Pittsburgh, it extends along the 
Monongahela sixty miles, up the Youghiogheny about the same distance, along 
the Pittsburgh, Cin. & St. Louis Rail Road tv^enty-two miles, out the Pennsylva- 
nia Rail Road twenty miles, and up the Allegheny Valley Rail Road about the 
same distance. In this reach in five different directions in the mining of coal 
the force of that centrality of position previously mentioned is apparent. The 
-entire reach is about one hundred and eighty miles, while the average distance 
is but only 36 miles, and in three divisions only 20 miles; and in all cases, in 
such lines of transportation that in all but the Monongahela river, the works can 
be reached from the Pittsburgh ofiices of the companies in about one hour's time, 
or less; and in that time likewise on half of the pools of the Monongahela. The 
totals of coal trade show thus in their respective divisions, only one of which, 
using the rivers for transportation, has tow boats and barges. 



Total collieries, 



hands, 

bushels mined, 

pit wagons, .... 1,905 

houses, 485 

horses and mules, . . 288 

R. R. cars, 4 and 8 whe'els, 2,721 



On the Pennsylvania Rail Road. 

6 Total acres, 15,622 

wages, ...".. $1,511,000 

value coal,* . . . 2,460,000 

wagons, . . . 51,105 



2,669 
41,000,000 



value, except land, 
miles of pit track, 

*At 6 cents per bushel. 



12,697,765 
154 



houses, 



236,300 



horses and mules, 14,400 



R. R. cars, 
other improvers, 
pit track, . . 



1,594,900 
815,000 



158 



Pittsburgh and Allegheny 



On the Allegheny Yalley Rail Road. 



Total collieries, . 




3 


Total 


acres 





3,275 


a 


hands. 




550 




wage 
value 


s 


$250,000 
543,196 


u 


bush, mined, 




9,053,280 




coal,^ . . . . 


u 


pit wagons, 




440 




a 


pit wagons, . . 


13,200 


n 


houses, . 




127 




a 


houses, . . . . 


66,000 


ii 


horses and mul 


les, . 


66 




u 


horses and mules. 


3,30a 


u 


R. R. cars, 4 & 8 wheel. 


181 




a 


R. R. cars, . 


171,600 


11 


miles of pit track, 


16 




li 


pit track, . . . 




a 


value prop., except land 


, $388,500 




a 


improvements, . 


13,500 



*At 6 cents per bushel. 



On Pittsburgh & Connellsville (B. & 0. R. R.) R. R. and Branches. 



Total collieries and cokeries, 52 

hands, 4,171 

bushels coal mined, 22,560,000 
pit wagons, .... 

houses, 

horses and mules, . . 326 

R. R. cars, 8 & 4 wheel, 928 

coke ovens, .... 3,245 
bush, coke, .... 70,930,850 



2,399 
1,108 



miles pit track. 



110 



Total acres, ...... 3,689 

wages, $1,824,752 

value coal,-^ .... 1,253,600 
pit wagons, . . 69,570 



Value property, except land, $4,158,010 

*At 6 cents per bushel. f^t 5 cents per bushel 



houses, . . . , 
horses and mules, 
R. R. cars, . . , 
coke ovens, . . 
coke,f . . . 
pit track, . . 
improvements. 



597,550 
53,900 

700,400 
'■ 826,200 
3,516,542 



1,947,590 



Total collieries, . . 
coke ovens, 
hands, . . . 
bushels mined, 
pit wagons, . 
houses, . . 



On Pittsburgh, Cincinnati & St. Louis Railroad. 
. . . . 12 Total acres 



R. R. cars, 4 and 8 wheel, 
horses and mules, . . 
miles of pit track, . . 
value, except land. 



51 

1,849 

16,290,000 

1,541 

219 

1,072 

190 

53 

$885,130 



value ovens. 



wages, . . 
value coal,* 



pit wagons, 
houses, . . 
R. R. cars, . 
horses and mules, 
pit track, . . . 
improvements. 



4,572 
10,650 
, 717,000 
1,303,200 
. 46,230 
. 98,100 
. 364,800 

9,500 



366,500 



*At 6 cents per bushel. 



In the Centennial Year. 



159 



In the City of Pittsburgh. 

Total collieries, 11 Total acres, 2,340 

'' hands, 1,031 " wages, $588,600 

" bushels mined, . . 15,660,000 " value coal,^ . . . 1,096,200 

\ '' pit wagons, 1,552 '' '' pit wagons, . . 50,900 

'' houses, 113 ^' " houses, .... 50,050 

" R. R. cars, 4 to 8 wheel, 60 '' '' R. R. cars, . . . 12,000 

' '' horses and mules, . . 300 '' '• horses and mules, 15,000 

'^ miles pit track, ... 47 ^' '' improvements, . 517,934 
" value prop., except land, $648,884 

*At 7 ceiits per bushel. 

On the MoNONaAHELA River. 

Total collieries, 74 Total acres, ....... 17,24T 

" hands, 6,359 ^' wages, $2,843,200 

<< bushels mined, . . 69,663,946 '« value coal,*. . . . 4,876,475 

'' pit wagons; 6,539 << " pit wagons, . . 196,176 

" houses, 1,846 ^^ " houses, .... 784,350 

'' horses and mules, . . 558 '^ '' horses and mules, 27,900 

" miles pit track, . . . 196 " " pit track, . . . 

'^ tow-boats, 54 '' '' tow-boats, . . . 884,500 

'< barges, ...... 1,006 '' '' barges, .... 785,180 

'' flats, 564 •' "■ flats, 176,700 

<' value property, except " ^^ improvements, $11,843,200 

land, $4,698,006 

*At 7 cents per bushel. 

On all Divisions. 

Total collieries, 158 Total acres, 46,745* 

'' hands, 16,629 " wages, $ 7,704,550 

" bushels mined, . . 176,227,220 '' value coal, .... 11,302,071 

" pit wagons, 14,296 " '' pit wagons, . . 426,021 

" houses, 3,898 '<• '' houses, . . . 1,832,350 

" horses and mules, . . 1,764 '' '^ horses and mules, 124,000 

" R. R. cars, 4,992 '' " R. R. cars, . . 2,843,700 

" towboats, 54 " " tow-boats, . . . 884,500 

" barges, 1,006 ^' '^ barges, .... 785,400 

'' flats, 564 " '' flats, 176,700 

" miles pit track, . . . 576 " '' track, .... 

" value property, except *' " improvements, 5,503,733: 
land, .... $13,498,495 

*The acres of coal remaining belong to collieries out of which coal has not been taken. 



160 Pittsburgh and Allegheny 



CHAPTER XIV. 



THE IRON WORKS OF PITTSBURGH. 



Although the consumption of iron enters into all the business of Pittsburgh, 
jet by her iron manufactures are generally understood the products of her roll- 
ing mills, her foundries and her machine shops. 

While the knowledge and use of iron is very ancient, the scale of its manu- 
facture was, up to the days of Homer, of so small an extent, that at the games 
in honor of Patrocles, the most precious prize was a piece of iron which a single 
man could throw. And it is recorded that when Porus came from the East, from 
the land of gold and of pearls, to propitiate Alexander the Great, his most valu- 
able gift was a piece of Indian iron weighing forty pounds. 

It is thought the crusaders brought back with them a knowledge of manu- 
facturing cast iron . but although that knowledge was early put to use in Europe, 
yet the progress was so slow that in 1*740, only 136 years ago, the whole produc- 
tion of England was made from fifty-nine furnaces, averaging 249 tons each, or 
a value of 17,350 tons. In 1856 it was calculated by Abram S. Hewitt, that the 
•consumption of iron was 



Production 
Nations. per head. 


Consumpt'n 
per head. 


Production 
Nations. per head. 


Consumpt'n 
per head. 


England, ... 28*7 lbs. 


140 lbs. 


Russia, .... 10 lbs. 


10 lbs. 


United States, . 84 '' 


117 '' 


Switzerland, . . 00 '' 


22 " 


France, ... 40 *' 


60 '' 


Prussia, ... 50 " 


50 '' 


Sweden & Norway, 92 '* 


30 '< 


Germany, Z oil verein, 50 " 


50 ' 


Belgium, ... 136 '' 


70 '' 


Spain, .... 41'^ 


5 '' 


Austria, . . . 12 J" 


15 '' 




. 



The same authority computes that from the ratio of increase in 115 years, 
during which time it increased seventeen fold, the next century would show a 
demand requiring an annual make of 140,000,000 tons. The consumption of 
iron is so rapidly increasing, that it requires shorter periods for the doubling of 
the production from a given date. In Great Britain, commencing at 1806, it re- 
quired until 1824, or 18 years, to double the amount consumed at the former 
date. In 1836 it had again doubled, being only twelve years. In 1847, eleven 
years, it had doubled again ; and in 1855, a period of eight years, it had reached 
3,500,000 tons, being an increase of 1,500,000 tons in that time, at which rate it 
would double in ten years.. 




O 



o 

CO 



s o 
o 



In the Centennial Year, 



161 



The following table, taken from a lecture by Abram S. Hewitt, gives the pro- 
'duction of various countries, at the dates specified: 



England, . 


. 1855 


France, . 


. 1845 


Belgium, 


. 1855 


Russia, . 


. 1851 


Sweden, 


. 1852 


Norway, 


. . 1855 


Austria, 


. 1847 



Tons. 
3,585,906 
650,000 
225,000 
300,000 
157,000 



Prussia, 



Tons. 
400,000 



Germany, 200,000 

Elba and Italy, 72,000 

Spain, 27,000 

Denmark and balance of Europe, 20, 000 



22,500 United States, 
165,765 



1856 



1,000,000 



In commenting upon the enormous production, stated by Mr. Hewitt, as re- 
>quired during the next century, the following language is used in ''Pittsburgh 
As It Is," by Geo. H. Thurston, published in 1857: 

"The question at once arises, where is the immense quantity to be made? 
To solve this question, there is a certain condition of things to be considered. 
First, is required an adequate supply of the raw materials ; then a location of • 
those materials that will enable them to be cheaply brought together; for as 
previously stated in other chapters of this volume, the value of raw material 
does not lay so much in what it is, but where it is. There must be cheap and 
extensive means for transportation to market, also a sufficiently populous coun- 
try to render labor attainable at a reasonable cost; and likewise skill to manage 
such works as may be erected in an economical manner. 

''All these requisites exist in the western and eastern iron counties of which 
Pittsburgh is the focus ; and it is obvious that in the solving of the question, of 
from whence will come the immense increase required by the calculation of Mr. 
Hewitt, that the section of country mentioned must aid largely in supplying any 
such demand ; and that Pittsburgh will consequently increase wonderfully in 
furnishing her quota of the demand." 

The following is, as nearly as can be ascertained, the world's total production 
of iron in 1871 : 



Great Britain, . . 
United States, 
France, .... 
German Zollverein, 
Belgium, » . . 
Austria 



6,500,000 tons 
1,912,000 " 
1,350,000 " 
1,250,000 " 
896,000 " 
450,000 '• 



Norway and Sweden, . 280,000 tons 

Russia, 330,000 " 

Italy, 75,000 " 

Spain, ...... 72,000 '<• 

Other countries, . . . 200,000 " 

Total, .... 13,315,000 tons 

In 1873 the production of iron in the United Sates had risen to 2,700,000 
tons. In 1876 there were in the United States 713 furnaces, with annual capacity 
of 5,439,230 tons. There were 332 iron rolling mills whose capacity was 4,189,- 
760 tons, having 4,475 puddling furnaces. In 1876 Pittburgh has 11 furnaces, 
having a capacity of 236,992 tons, or nearly one-twentieth of the entire product 
of the country in 1873, and one-fifty-sixth of the entire production of iron in the 
world in 1871. The following table presents thejfurnaces and details of size 
and capacity: 
11 



162 



Pittsburgh ana Allegheny 



Furnace. 



Owners. 



Clinton, . 
Eliza, . . 
Superior, 
Shoenberg 
Isabella, . 

a 

Lucy, . . 
Soho, . . 



er 



Graflf, Bennett & Co. . . . 

Laughlins & Co 

Harbaugh, Mathias & Owens, 
Shoenberger, Blair & Co. . . 
Isabella Furnace Co. . . . 



r Lucy Furnace Co. \ 

\ Carnagie Brothers, owners, j 
Moorhead, McCleane & Co. . 



no 




02 


Built. 


m 


^ 






1 


45 


12 


1859 


2 


60 


17 


1861 


2 


45 


12 


1863 


2 


62 


13 


1865 


1 


Y5 


18 


1872 1 


1 


Y5 


20 


1872/ 


1 


Y5 


20 


1872 


1 


65 


19 


1872 



12,000 
36,000 
22,000 
28,000 

75,712 



41,280 
22,000 



These furnaces, in full operation, will employ in the various labors required 
at the furnaces, 1,000 hands, whose wages will average annually about $550,000. 
They will use, running at full capacity, 11,894,600 bushels of coke. The quan- 
tity of ore used depending, of course, on its per cent, of yield, must vary, and 
admits of no fixed statistics being given. 

In 1876 there is in Pittsburgh thirty-three iron rolling mills, not to include eight 
steel rolling mills, with seven hundred and sixty-four puddling furnaces, and an 
annual capacity of four hundred and fifty thousand net tons, equal to one-ninth 
of the whole capacity of all the mills in the United States, more than one-sixth 
of all the puddling furnaces, and one-tenth of all the iron rolling mills in the 
country. From these statistics it would appear that the prediction of 1857, just 
quoted from ^'Pittsburgh As It Is," has been largely fulfilled. Is it venturing 
much to repeat the prediction? The same elements upon which it was based in 
1857, still exist, — and may not the following sentence from the same publicatioDj 
be quoted as applicable to the future, as well as the past. 

"It has been stated that the future millionaires of America will be found 
among the iron and coal mines of Pennsylvania. That they will be found among 
the rolling mills, the foundries, the machine shops and the coal companies of 
Pittsburgh, there can be no doubt." 

A reference to the various chapters treating in this volume of those requi- 
sites, supply of raw material, facility in its concentration, for manufacturing 
and for distribution, will at once convince how, by nature, the location of Pitts- 
burgh is adapted for the focus of a huge manufacturing district, and how skill- 
fully the cunning hand of man is improving it by railroads, and by rendering yet- 
more available the rivers. 

Says the author of "Pittsburgh As It Is," in 1857: 

"In the rapid increase of consumption of iron, a point will be reached in 
which the natural resources of Great Britain in material and labor will be over- 
tasked, when, the probabilities are, the United States will come into an equal if 
not superior position as a supplier of iron to the world. 

"The price of coal and iron stone has doubled in Great Britain in the last 
three years, and the price of labor has materially increased. This single fact i& 
indicative of the approach of that point at which the United States will take 
rank above all other nations as a supplier of iron. Of which assertion, the fact 



In the Centennial Year. 163 



that her ores and her coal strata are of sufficient extent to enable her to produce 
50,000,000 tons with the same drain on her natural resources as Great Britain 
can produce three and a half million, is conclusive." 

The position which Pennsylvania would attain in such a state of trade is 
apparent from her 15.000 square miles of coal and the deposits of the various 
iron ores which accompany it in every direction; and the rank of Pittsburgh is 
easily deducible from the remarks and the data given in this and previous chap- 
ters. Great Britain had but 11.000 square miles of coal, as the basis of her 
manufacturing success and wealth. 

The present sources from which Pittsburgh draws her supply of pig iron are 
nine: 1st. The products of her eleven home furnaces, whose capacity is, as 
before stated, now equal to one-twentieth of the whole of the United States. 2d. 
The Allegheny river region. 3d. The Anthracite region. 4th. From the cele- 
brated Juniata section of ores. 5th. From Eastern Ohio. 6th. From Missouri 
and Lake Superior. 7th. From the Hanging Rock region of Ohio. 8th. From 
Kentucky and Tennessee. 9th. From the Youghiogheny region. 

Research may discover localities where greater natural facilities for the pro- 
duction of iron exists than here. Be that as it may, at present there is hut one Pittsburgh, 
It is not probable there will be readily found the same facility for the distribution 
of manufactured iron, together with the ability to receive cheaply all the valuable 
ores and metal of the country ; combined with quantity and quality of fuel ; all 
augmented in their value by the large masses of not only permanently located 
skilled labor, but skilled masters and judiciously expended capital. As yet no 
geological examination has shown the same proximity of good ores and proper 
fuel ; nor improvement developed the same natural and artificial receptive and 
distributive facilities held by the city of Pittsburgh. 

Until such is the case Pittsburgh must remain the great iron market she 
always has been. Her large iron capital, consisting not only of money, but of 
mills, furnaces, ore banks, iron mountains, coal mines, gaseous fuel from natural 
gas wells, skill and experience as well, create every inducement of self interest, 
as well as furnish ability to meet all competition. They must, from the very 
commercial force embraced in such a multiform yet homogenous capital, control 
trade. Such huge aggregations of capital, natural advantages and productive 
ability, may, at times, meet trifling and temporary checks to their continuous 
progressive ratio ; yet the very strength developed from their owii internal force^ 
gives irresistable power to their still increasing bulk, which aggregates con- 
tinually. This is statistically true as to the history of Pittsburgh's progress. 
The statistics of her commerce and manufactures, when compared with the 
growth of the West, show it conclusively. 

In 1800 the population of that section of the Western States to which Pitts- 
burgh has access by her rivers then, and her rail roads also now, as well, was 
385,647. In 1803 the value of the city's business was $350,000, or 91.2 per cent. 
of the population which furnished her a market. Considering from that stand- 



164 Pittsburgh and Allegheny 

point of time the future progress of Pittsburgh business, the expectation that 
she would be able to maintain the same ratio of trade per capita as then, would 
seem reasonable and yet much to hope. Having at that time, without rivalries 
or competition, nearly one dollar of business per capita with the population of 
the market she controlled, it might have been perhaps by some thought some- 
what sanguine, to expect that through all the growth of population in that 
market in coming years, under all the rivalries of other cities and manufacturing 
districts that must arise, in all the fluctuations of trade caused by local influ- 
ences, that Pittsburgh should continue to hold a progress equal with that growth, 
and maintain a trade of equal per capita proportions as that with which, having 
no competition, she started. At that time the wonderful developments of the 
West was not conceived of. Could that development have been foreseen, and 
the great active ambitious communities that have arisen; the large development 
of mineral and rail road facilities been pre-known, it would have been thought 
yet more sanguine to hope the city would keep a trade equal to one dollar per 
capita, with all that great increase of population, through all the rivalries and 
competitions that would arise ; and if she could so maintain the ratio, a future 
for the city to be comtemplated with satisfaction. But little more could be 
asked than that a city should grow in trade in the same ratio of increase as that 
of her market, especially if competitions, foreign as well as home, for the trade 
of that market should not only arise, but increase, within the market itself, by 
reason of the market's own inherent facilities and growth. 

As before stated, in 1800 the trade of Pittsburgh was equal to 91.2 per cent, 
of the population of the West. In 1810 the population of the South and West 
being 1,073,£31, the business of Pittsburgh was by estimates then made |1,000,- 
000, or 93 per cent. In 1820 the census gives the population of the section des- 
ignated, at 2,541,522, while in 1817 the business of Pittsburgh was stated at 
$2,266,366, or a fraction short of 90 per cent. In 1830 there were in the same 
section of the Union, 3,331,298, but there is no record of the value of the busi- 
ness of the city at that date. In 1840 the population of the Western and South- 
western States was 5,173,949, and in 1836 the business of Pittsburgh had been 
shown to be $31,146,55®, being something over 600 per cent., or six dollars per 
capita, showing that the business of the city had not only kept pace in its orig- 
inal ratio with the population of the West, but compounded thereon five hun- 
dred per cent. 

In 1850 the population of the West was 8,419,179, and the value of the 
business of Pittsburgh, given by authorities of that date, at $50,000,000, or 
about the same ratio of six dollars per capita, as in 1840. In 1860 the popula- 
tion of the Western and Southern States under comparison, was 11,489,318. 
Of the value of business of the community for 1860, there is no reliable figures, 
the census of that year of Allegheny county having been greatly deficient in 
comprehensiveness. In 1856, however, a private compilation of the statistics of 
the city, published in "Pittsburgh As It Is," before cited, shows the manufactur- 



In the Centennial Year. 165 

ing and wholesale business to have been $70,000,000, by which it is clear that 
the ratio of six dollars per capita was maintained at that date, and leaving it 
very probable that an increase thereon was attained in 1860. In 1870 the 
population of the section of the Union with whose increase the progress of the 
business of Pittsbugh is being compared, was 11,583,567, — but in that last decade 
the trade of Pittsburgh had largely found eastern as well as western markets, 
and the ratios of trade and inhabitants should be with eastern as well as western 
populations. That the past ratios with the west had been fully maintained, there 
is no doubt, as in a letter written in 1866, by Geo. H. Thurston, President of the 
Board of Trade of Pittsburgh, to -Hon. J. K. Moorhead, M. C, correcting a 
statement growing out of the defective census of 1860, before referred to, that 
had been made in Congress, that the manufactures of Pittsburgh were but eleven 
millions, he says: 

'' From the returns made to the revenue officers here for a period of eighteen 
months, from September, 1863, to March, 1865, I give you the amount of the 
sales of some of the more important articles manufactured at Pittsburgh. These 
figures are not an exhaustive or elaborate report -of the census of the manufac- 
tures of the city, but a condensation of some statistics of the sale of leading 
articles derived from internal revenue returns in my possession." 

Those returns make the sales of the few items in the period embraced, over 
seventy-four millions of dollars, and although but a limited exhibit of the pro- 
ductive capacity and actual yield of Pittsburgh of manufactures alone, they 
are more than ample to show that the ratios had not only been maintained, but 
also compounded, as at previous periods. 

These statistics are sufficient to show what was previously stated of the 
power of Pittsburgh to maintain not only her trade in proportion to the increase 
of her original market, but to very largely compound thereon in the face of 
all competitions, checks and depressions of trade. 

While active competitions now exist to wrest trade from Pittsburgh, espe- 
cially in her iron and steel interests, yet we feel confident, from the present as 
well as the past of the iron trade of Pittsburgh, that she will not^have in the fu- 
ture any more than now anything to fear from the iron mountains of Canada or 
Missouri, the iron deposits of Superior, the thick, rich ores of Tennessee and 
Georgia. Then, as now, they would, from facility of transportation, be hers as 
much as the fine ores of Ohio and Pennsylvania, while her growth in ability and 
increase in productive force will, as in the past, keep pace with the competition 
which draws her energies forth and calls upon her resources to maintain the 
mastery. 



166 



Pittsburgh and Allegheny 





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Peter Shoenberger, . . 
Bean, Butler & Belknap, 
Zebulion Packard, . . 
John 0. McNickle, 
M. S. Mason,J .... 
Lorenz, Forsythe & Cuddy 
Hoge & Hartman, . . 
Campbell k Chess, . . 
Everson & Co. . . . 
A. Plummer & Co. . ^ 


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Jones, Lauth & Co. . . 
Porter Polfe k Swett, . 
Moorhead k Co. . 


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15th and Etna sts. 
66 Sandusky street, 
13th and Pike sts. 
Second avenue, 
lOth&DuquesneW'y 

96 Water street, 
In Bankruptcy. 
112 Water street, 
Second avenue, 

97 Water street, 


66 Anderson street, 
In Bankruptcy, 
r Duquesne Way ^ 
\ and Cecil alley, / 
111 Water street. 
Third and Try sts. 


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Shoenberger & Co. 
Spang, Chalfant & Co. 
Zug & Co. • . . . . 
Henry Lloyd, Son & Co. 
Brown & Co. 
J. Painter & Sons, . 
McKnight & Co. . . 
Chess, Smythe & Co. . 
Everson, Macrum & Co. 
Graff, Bennett & Co. . 


Lewis, Dalzell & Co. . 
Rogers & Burchfield, . 

Mullen k Maloney, 


Wm. D. Wood k Co. . 
Jones k Laughlins, . 
Dilworth, Porter & Co. 
Moorhead & Co. . . 


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American, 


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In the Centennial Year. 



167 






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168 Pittsburgh and Allegheny 

These thirty-three iron rolling mills have, as will be seen from the table, 
seven hundred and sixty-four puddling furnaces, and the capacity of the mills for 
production is four hundred and fifty thousand tons, or as before stated equal to 
one-ninth of the whole capacity in the United States, and one-sixth of all the 
puddling furnaces. It is equal to one-fourth of all the mills of Pennsylvaniar 
seventy per cent, of all the mills in Ohio, ninety-four per cent, of all the mills 
in the New England States, eighty per cent, of all the mills in New York and 
New Jersey combined, one hundred and twenty per cent, of all the mills in the 
seven States of Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Ala- 
bama and West Virginia, one hundred per cent, of all the mills in Kentucky, 
Illinois, Tennessee and Indiana, and two hundred and thirty per cent, of all the 
mills in the balance of the United States. 

These thirty-three mills, running full, consume 385,000 tons of pig iron, 
besides scrap iron and blooms. They use 150,000 tons of ore for "fix," and 
3,000,000 fire brick. They consume 2,400,000 bushels of coal, employ 10,148 
hands, whose wages average $6,560,000 annually. The capital in the buildings, 
machinery and ground is, as nearly as can be arrived at, $9,681,667, and the area 
covered by the mills is 510 acres. They produce, when running full, about 
350,000 tons of bar, sheet and plate iron, also about 1,200,000 kegs of nails. 

The value of the product it is difficult to give, owing to the fluctuating rates 
of iron in the past two years, and a mere estimate, owing to the various qualities, 
descriptions, and rates for special orders, or peculiar makes, would be nothing re- 
liable. From the amount of pig metal consumed, the value of the rolling mill 
product may be assumed at about twenty million of dollars at present rates. 

The iron produced by the McKeesport works is really a separate class of iron 
manufacture, being a special article made by only one mill, and known as 

Russia or Planished Steel Iron. 

The manufacture of this article was established in 1851 by W. Dewees Wood, 
the present proprietor, under a patent granted to James Wood, the grandfather 
of W. Dewees, in 1841, and under an improvement by J. Wood Brothers, in 1844. 
The imitation of Russia shtet iron then made by this establishment, although equal 
in appearance to the imported article, would not resist the action of the atmos- 
phere as well. This difficulty was partially overcome in 1861 through experi- 
ments by the present proprietor of the works. Other improvements were 
patented in 1865-67, but the required result was not obtained until 1873, 
through the present mode of manufacture, the principle feature of which is 
planishing by hammers. The growth of this important branch of Pittsburgh's 
manufactures is the result of thirty years experimenting and study on the part of 
the inventor, and the effect is that Pittsburgh is the only point in the country 
where an article of planished sheet iron is produced fully equal to the best 
Russia iron, and so endorsed by the heaviest metal, dealers and consumers 
in the country. In the growing indications that the United States will, within. 




. /!.y^„r/^.-/f/>^f/'' "' •' '' /-'M 



BIRDS-EYE VIEW IN TWENTY-FOURTH WARD, FROM BLUFF STREET. 

MONONGAHELA RIVER AND JONES <fe LAUGHLINS IRON WORKS. 




INTERIOR VIEW OF A ROLLIIMG MILL. 



In the Centennial Year. 16^ 

the near future, compete with her old creditor, England, this stride of a Pitts- 
burgh manufactory toward freeing the country from a dependence on Russia for 
its planished iron, is important; especially in view of the facts previously set 
forth as to Pittsburgh's ability and power in the production of iron and her 
facility for reaching foreign markets. There is not a little grim humor in the 
trade mark which the firm producing this iron has adopted, of an eagle throttling 
a bear lying prostrate on its back. 

The establishment covers about five acres of ground, employs 300 hands, 
paying out $170,000 a year of wages. There is consumed in the works 5,000 tons 
pig and scrap iron and 600,000 bushels of coal, and four large steam hammers, 
weighing about three tons each and striking three hundred blows a minute, with 
a force of about twenty tons are used. The blows of these hammers imparts the 
peculiar gloss and dappled appearance of "Russia sheet," and closes the pores of 
the iron so effectually that it resists the action of the atmosphere fully as long. 

This establishment fully illustrates the facilities of sites mentioned in the 
chapter on the manufacturing advantages of Pittsburgh. Located on the banks 
of the Monongahela river, a branch of the Pittsburgh division of the Baltimore & 
Ohio R. R. runs through the works, giving those great facilities of receiving and 
shipping by either rail or water, cited in that chapter ; barges being frequently 
loaded at the works with iron for St. Louis. The product of the mill is about 
four thousand tons common Juniata and planished sheet iron. 

There is among the specialities of iron products in Pittsburgh, the manu- 
facture of Iron Sponge, or deoxidized ore. This process is carried on by the 
Blair Iron and Steel Co., who use an open hearth, '' Seimans-Martin " furnace, 
for making cast steel ingots ; also a cupalo for the manufacture of the sponge^ 
or cupalo metal, a new carbide of iron, intermediate in character between cast 
iron and cast steel, which is used as a stock for the manufacture of cast steel 
or iron in mixture with common pig. It was established in 1872, and is at pres- 
ent only in partial operation. When in full operation the establishment will 
employ 75 men, whose wages will amount to $40,000 annually; the space occu- 
pied by the works is 2J acres, and the capital in machinery, buildings and 
grounds $50,000. 

Cold Rolled Polished Shafting 

Is also a special product of another of the rolling mills of Pittsburgh. This 
article is made at the American Works of Jones & Laughlins, and has seventy- 
five per cent, more effective strength than the same size of turned iron, and is 
made no where else in the world but by this firm at Pittsburgh. 

This shafting is rolled out in the ordinary way, hot, and after being scaled is 
rolled through ponderous chilled rolls, five feet long by twenty-four inches in 
diameter, which, while reducing the diameter of the shaft, gives it a bright po- 
lished surface. The power which must be expended to overcome the friction of 
cold rolled shafting, is less by thirty per cent, than is required to overcome the 



170 Pittsburgh and Allegheny 

friction of turned iron shafting of equal strength, and by its use thirty-five per 
cent, in weight and cost of shafting, hangers and couplings is saved. The build- 
ings in which the shafting is manufactured is 600 by 200 feet, and about 200 hands 
^re employed in its production. The invention was secured by patent in 1859. 

Horse and Mule Shoes 

Are another specialty of two other of the rolling mills, Messrs. Shoenberger & 
€o. and Reese, Graff & Woods. 

Another of the rolling mills, that of Lewis, Oliver & Phillips, manufacture 
very largely from their own iron what is technically termed Heavy Hardware, 
making bolts, screw, hook, and strap and T hinges, harrow teeth, wrought bolster 
plates, nuts, washers, wagon hardware, etc., etc., in addition, — the statistics of 
which are embraced in those of the bolt and nut manufacturers. 

FOUNDRIES AND MACHINE SHOPS. 

Are the next in importance in the iron manufacture of Pittsburgh. The first 
foundry which was started in the western counties of Pennsylvania was Trum- 
bull & Marmie's furnace, which was situated on Jacob's Creek, fifteen miles from 
its mouth, and went into blast on the first of November, 1790. 

In 1803 the first iron foundry was established in Pittsburgh by Mr. Joseph 
McClurg. The growth of the foundry business in this city from that time was 
steady, and at periods rapid. It ranks second in the iron business of Pitts- 
burgh in the amount of capital invested, extent of ground and buildings occu- 
pied, and number of hands employed. The variety of their staple castings is 
large; and there is no description of foundry work which the skill, facilities and 
resources of the firms engaged in the business does not justify them in under- 
taking. Heavy mill gearing, railroad castings, copper mining machinery, rolling 
mill castings, cotton and sugar mills and presses, cannon, plows, chilled wheels, 
shafts, machines for punching, drilling and planing iron, &c., &c., hollow ware, 
stoves, grates, platform and other varieties of scales, steam engine work, a long 
list of articles known as domestic hardware, and in fact every description of 
form which necessities and luxuries demand, are daily turned out from foundries 
located in this community. 

In these foundries may be cast articles ranging from the heavy Columbiad, 
(cannon,) weighing 100,000 pounds, throwing a ball of 1000 pounds, to the finest 
Berlin work of articles not larger than a finger. 

The casting of cannon is not at present being prosecuted. Although the 
Fort Pitt' cannon foundry is at present not in use, it is an object of pride to 
Pittsburghers. Established in 1803, it has cast cannon for three wars in which 
the government of the United States has been involved. A portion of the guns 
used on the United States ships on Lake Erie, at Perry's victory, were cast at 
this establishment. Guns and shells were also cast for the use of our armies in 
the Mexican campaign ; and during the rebellion, in addition to a large amount 



In the Centennial Year, 



171 



of guns of the more ordinary calibrCj this establishment made the largest guns 
in the world. 

The foundry was originally located on the corner of Fifth avenue and Smith- 
field street, on the lot where now stands the Custom House, and was established 
by Joseph McClurg in 1803. In the seventy years of its existence its operations 
have been conducted by several firms, among which were Wade k Totten, Knap, 
Wade & Co., Knap, Rudd & Co., The Knap Fort Pitt Foundry Co., Chas. Knap, 
Esq., and Chas. Knap's Nephews. 

Since 1849 there have been 2,408 cannon and mortars made in the establish- 
ment, of which number 2,038 were cast from 1861 to 1864. 

The following table shows the number and size of the guns cast, together 
with their weight and the weight of the ball or shell carried by them. 

The army guns of 8, 10, 15, 20 inch, are technically known as Columbiads. 



No. of 
Guns. 


Size of 
Bore. 


Service de- 
signed for. 


Weight 
each Gun. 


Shot or 
Shell. 


Weight 
each Ball 


600 


9 inch. 


Navy. 


9,100 lbs. 


Shell. 


•70 tbs 


10 


10 '' 


u 


16,800 


u 


Ball. 


70 '' 


50 


11 ^' 


cc 


16,800 


u 


Shell. 


130 '' 


58 


15 " 


CI 


43,900 


u 


Ball. 


450 '' 


1 


20 '' 


iC 


100,000 


u 


cc 


1,000 '' 


300 


8 '^ 


Army. 


8,400 


u 


cc 


64 '' 


100 


10 '' 


u 


15,900 


u 


u 


128 " 


50 


15 '' 


a 


50,000 


a 


IC 


450 " 


1 


20 '' 


u 


116,497 


ii. 


a 


1,000 " 


200 
200 
150 
150 


8 '' 


Howitzer. 
Mortars. 




u 


Shell. 

cc 


50 '* 

50 & 84 '' 

200 '' 

38 '' 


o 

8 & 10 '' 




cc 




cc 


cc 


• i o 

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Rifle Guns. 




cc 


Ball. 



The balance 6 and 12 pounders. 

The 15-inch army guns enumerated in the above table, are 17 feet 9 inches 
long; the navy guns 17 feet 5 inches long; and both descriptions 4 feet in diam- 
eter at the trunions. 

During the continuation of the ci^ il war, these works were continuously 
running, with the exception of Sundays, and in addition to the great number of 
guns turned out, 10,000,000 pounds of shot and shell. Many of the other 
foundries were also engaged in furnishing shot and shell. 

A circumstantial history of each of the foundries, with however so brief 
mention of interesting matters connected with them, would occupy more space 
than it is convenient to devote to the whole iron business of Pittsburgh, and we 
content ourselves with simply exhibiting in tabular form the progress of the 
foundry business, from 1804 to 1867, showing the number of foundries, hands and 
tons of metal consumed. 



172 



Pittsburgh and Allegheny 



Year. 

1804, 

1810,-^ 
1815,f 

18l7,t 

1825,? 

1829,§ 

1836,11 

1850,^ 

1854,-^^ 

1857,tt 



Foundries and 
Machine Shops. 

1 



9 
18 
30 
38 
33 



Hands. 



87 

225 

1,000 

1,765 
1,625 



Tons metal 
consumed. 



400 



3,50a 
12,000 
20,000 
28,525 
34,000 



In 1775 steam engines were first applied to the pumping of mines and the 
manufacture of iron; and in 1794, nineteen years after, the steam engine was 
assisting at Pittsburgh to build up that system of manufactures which has given 
her so wide a reputation. 

The following table shows, to a certain extent, the increase of engine and 
manufacturing shops here from 1808 to 1837 : 

1808, there was one Machinist and Whitesmith. 
1813, " were two Steam Engine Works. 
" '' was one Wool Carding Machine Factory, 
'' '^ '' one Cloth Steam '' " 

1825, '' were six Steam Engine '' Factories. 

1829, '<■ " seven '' " " " 

1830, '^ '' 100 Steam Engines built. 
1837, '' '' 10 Steam Engine Factories. 

The sources from whence to gather figures showing the progress of this 
branch of business are sparse ; and in the absence of any information which will 
show satisfactorily the values of the steam engine and machine business at the 
various dates given above, we proceed to the business of the present day, only 
stating that in 1857 there were sixteen machine and steam engine manufactories 
in Pittsburgh, employing 737 hands, and producing steam engines to the value 
of 1836,300. 

With the increase and growth of Pittsburgh in the past two decades, the 
foundry business, as a class, had gradually sub-divided itself until it is more pro- 
perly shown in its various branches, which may be classified as general foun- 
dries, stove foundries, heavy machine foundries, light machine foundries, steam 
engines, machine shops with foundries, engine factories without foundries, engi- 
neers, iron founders, machinists, roll foundries, and malleable iron foundries ; 
and there are in Pittsburgh the following 



*Census, by U. S. Marshal. 

fDirectory of Pittsburgh, 1815. 

JCensus taken by Councils. 

**Charle8 McKnight, in Hunt's Magazine, 1854. 



^ Pittsburgh Gazette. 
II Lyford's Western Directory. 
^Fahnestock's Directory, 1850. 
ft" Pittsburgh As It Is." 



In the Centennial Year. 



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176 



Pittsburgh and Allegheny 



These forty foundries and engine shops occupy a space of 128 acres, and there 
is in the buildings, machinery and ground capital to the amount of $2,292,000. 
They employ 1,936 hands, whose wages amount to $1,053,680, yearly, and use 
69,980 tons of pig metal. They also consume, among other materials, 650,000 
bushels coke, 544,000 bushels coal, about 100,000 bushels sand-loam, 200,000 
fire brick, 400 tons fire clay, about $150,000 of iron and nails, 75 tons brass and 
copper, 500,000 feet of lumber, and the value of their product is about $4,300,000. 

Steam Pumps. 

There are three establishments manufacturing the above articles. 
Style of Works. Style of Firm. Office. Estab'd. By. 

Eclipse. S. D. Hubbard & Co. 1st av. & Ferry. 1873 S. D. Hubbard & Co. 
Keystone. Epping,Carpenter& Co. 32d and Penn. 1866 Pottmayer & Winter. 
Hutchison. Hutchison & Co. 112 Liberty av. 1874 Hutchison & Co. 

These various works each produce a special pump, having its own peculiar- 
ities. They employ 46 hands, whose wages amount to about $40,000. The 
works occupy 100 by 450 feet, and the capital in machinery, buildings and ground 
is about $50,000. No statistics of the products of the business could be obtained. 

There are in addition eleven other works that might be classed under foun- 
dries, to whose working, cupalos and air furnaces are requisite, and who melt 
pig iron in the processes of producing the articles they manufacture. Those are 
domestic hardware manufactories, saddlery hardware factories, plow factories and 
pipe foundries. For the purpose of a more distinct classification of the products 
of Pittsburgh, they are classed in groups, distinct from other foundry business, 
and the statistics of each class subjoined. There are four establishments making 

Domestic or Builders Hardware. 



Firm. 


Office. 


it 

i;2 


Who By. 


o* 
Is 

8 




Jacobus & ;Nimick\ 
Manufacturing Co. . J 
Livingston & Co. . . 
Jarvis & Adams. . . 
Logan k Strobridge. . 


Diamond st. . . . 

253 Washington av. 
Diamond st. . . . 
108 Water. . . . 


1855 

1867 
1870 
1874 


Jones, Walling- ") 
ford & Co. . . / 
Livingston k Co. . 
Jones & Adams. . 
Logan & Strobridge. 


1 

1 
1 
1 


2,000 

1,500 
1,500 
1,600 



These four firms employ 315 hands, whose wages amount to $140,000 annu- 
ally. The space occupied by these works is 6 acres, and the capital in 
machinery and buildings is about $215,000. Their consumption of coke and 
coal is 73,000 bushels. There is used in the production of the articles they 
make, 3,250 tons pig metal; also about 3,000 gallons Japan and an equal amount 
of varnish. In this branch is included the manufacture of stock and ore, depot, 
dormant, pig metal, portable, platform and counter scales; paint, ^'kaughphy" 



2 

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In the Centennial Year. 



177 



•and corn mills; copying presses; locks, of twenty different descriptions; a great 
variety of latches, bedstead castors and fasteners, weights, bell-pulls, sauce pan 
handles, wardrobe hooks, hinges, bolts, stands for fire and sad irons, umbrella 
stands, tobacco cutters, locking hasps, in fact every description of malleable 
casting and domestic hardware, and their product is about |450,000 yearly. 

Saddlery Hardware, 
Embracing all the articles which th0 name implies, is manufactured by three 
establishments. The list embraces a long line of articles which it is useless to 
recapitulate, as they are familiar to all persons in the trade. The firms are : 



firm. 


OflBce. 


Estab'd. 


By. 


s5 . 


Capacity 


.Sara'l Reynolds, . 
Crawford Mf'g Co. 
Gilliam Mf'g Co.* 


350 River ave. 
293 Liberty av. 
293 Liberty av. 


1863 
1849 
1867 


Sam'l Reynolds, . . . 
Olnhausen, urawford & Co. 
Gilliam Manufacturing Co. 


1 


1,200 
1,500 



^Manufacture as a specialt}^ Gilliam's Patent Coach Pads and Gig and Express Trees ; the only 
factory of the kind west of the mountains. 

These three establishments employ 285 hands, whose wages will amount to 
f 126,000. They use 1,000 tons of metal, 100,000 tons of coal, 70,000 bushels of 
coke, 12,000 bushels sand. 5,000 lbs. of glue, 50 tons of wire, 12 tons of emery, 
2,000 ozs. of silver, 50 tons wrought iron, 50,000 fire brick, 50 tons fire clay, 24 
tons of paper, leather to the amount of $12,000, silk thread and hair to amount 
of $1,500, boxes for packing to value of $14,500. The space occupied by the 
establishments is 4 acres, and the capital in machinery, buildings and ground is 
$265,000. The yearly value of their products is $370,000 to $400,000. 

The manufacture of 

PLOWS. 

Has also been a leading business in Pittsburgh. There are three plow works in 
the city. The full statistics of those cannot be given, one of the firms declining 
to furnish any information. The largest of the three, and from the variety and 
scope or the implements manufactured, is the 

Pittsburgh Globe Plow Works, Alexander Speer & Sons, Proprietors. 

It is one of the largest plow manufactories in the country, and is a fair rep- 
resentative of Pittsburgh's industrial growth. The Globe plow works were es- 
tablished nearly half a century ago, in the year 1828. During that time they 
have been continuously in operation. The original factory was a one-story frame 
building, without a foundry, and occupied a space of twenty feet by one hun- 
dred. The present works occupy 270 by 240 feet, or over an acre-and-a-half of 
ground, and is a two-story brick with a foundry and a cupalo of 2000 tons ca- 
pacity. The foundry floor occupies a space of 100 by 120 feet. The blacksmith 
12 



178 Pittsburgh and Allegheny 

■ r • 

shops and finish rooms are two-story brick buildings, 60 by 270 feet. The store 
room floor, which is in the second story, is 60 by 230 feet. From eighty to one 
hundred hands are employed, and sometimes more. 

The quality and acceptability of the plows made from this establishment is 
certified to by the fact, that beside taking a medal and diploma at the world's 
fair in Hamburg in 1863, and a medal at the London exhibition of all nations 
in 1851, they have carried off gold and silver medals and diplomas at more than 
thirty State and county fairs in as many years in the United States. 

The Globe plow works employ 80 hands, whose wages will average |50,000 a 
year. The establishment will consume 1500 tons of pig metal yearly, $30,000 
of woods, 300 tons of steel, and 50.0 tons of iron ; and produce plows, cultiva- 
tors and similar agricultural implements to the number of 90,000, having a value 
not far from half a million dollars. The capital in machinery, grounds and build- 
ings is about 1200,000. 

The other factory was established in 1846, by Robert Hall, and is now carried 
on by Spratt, Johnston & Co. They employ 45 men, whose wages amount to 
|20,000. The value of their improvements is stated at $50,000, and their sales 
at $100,000. 

The manufacture of 

Bolts and Nuts 

Is another important branch of the iron business of Pittsburgh, there are in the- 
city four factories. As the manufacture of these articles originated in Pitts- 
burgh, a short history of them will not be out of place in this work. 

In 1845 or 1846 William Kenyon, of Steubenville, Ohio, invented a machine- 
for cutting and pressing a nut at one operation ; the right of which invention, 
was purchased by Haigh, Hartupee & Co., from him in 185C, who then applied as 
his assignees for a patent, which was granted shortly after. Some period after 
the time mentioned as the date of Kenyon's invention, Isaac H. Steer constructed 
dies for a similar purpose. 

In the spring of 1850, the first machine for that purpose was built by Henry 
Carter and James Rees. Henry Carter then purchased the right of Isaac H. 
Steer, and obtained letters patent, both in the invention of Steer and of Carter 
& Rees. 

In April, 1856, James Rees disposed of his interest in the manufacture to 
Henry Carter, who at the same time formed a co-partnership with Charles Knap, 
then of the Fort Pitt Foundry, under the style of Knap & Carter, Charles 
Knap having purchased one-half of the patent for the territory west of the- 
Allegheny Mountains. On the 1st of January, 1857, they associated with them 
John W. Butler, the style of firm being Knap, Carter k Co., from which firm the? 
Standard Nut Company proceeds. 

The four establishments in operation in the city are: 



In the Centennial Year. 179 



Firm. Estab'd. By. Office. 

Standard Nut Co. . . . 1850 Carter & Rees, .... — ' 

Lewis, Oliver & Phillips, 1863 Lewis, Oliver & Phillips, 91 Water st. 

Charles & McMurtry, . . 1875 Charles & McMurtrj, . . 16th street. 
Pittsburgh Manufac'g Co. 1871 Pittsburgh Manufac'g Co. 28th street. 
These four establishments employ 800 hands, and pay wages to the amount 
of $388,000. The establishments occupy eight acres of ground, and the capital 
in the machinery, buildings and ground is stated at $505,000. One of these^ 
Lewis, Oliver & Phillips, however, employ a large proportion of their hands 
in the manufacture of what is known as heavy hardware, using the product oi 
their rolling mills to the extent of 13,000 tons. Two others produce nuts and 
bolts exclusively. Lewis, Oliver & Phillips use 100 bolt machines, 20 nut ma- 
chines, 25 punching machines, 10 hammers, and 108 miscellaneous machines. 
The Standard works use 15 nut machines, 3 bolt machines, 6 washer machines, 
12 tapping machines, and consume about 6000 tons iron. Charles & McMurtry 
use about 4000 tons. The product of these four establishments is about 
$1,280,000. The Pittsburgh Manufacturing Company, beside bolts, manufacture 
a variety of specialties of iron. 

Locomotives. 

An important and growing industry of Pittsburgh is the manufacture of 
locomotive engines, which, though of recent origin, forms a considerable and 
interesting item in the aggregate value of products. There are in Pitts- 
burgh and Allegheny two locomotive works. "The Pittsburgh Locomo- 
tive AND Car Works," a joint stock company, chartered under the laws of 
Pennsylvania, for the building of locomotives, passenger and freight cars, was 
the pioneer in this business. The company was organized in 1865. The works 
are located in the Sixth ward, Allegheny city. The ground was broken for this 
largest manufactory within the limits of that city on August 1st, 1865, the shops 
were ready for operation in the autumn of 1866, and the first locomotive was 
turned out in the spring of 1867. Since that date the works have been in 
almost continuous operation ; and although the buildings Avere liberally planned 
and furnished with machinery far exceeding any anticipated need, so rapidly did 
the business increase that frequent additions of machinery and buildings have 
been imperative. At this time the structures required in conducting the opera- 
tions necessary for the production of a complete locomotive, covfer nearly two 
and one-half acres in area. They are all of brick, built in the most substantial 
manner, and embrace the following: Machine shop, 290x120; engine room, 50x 
25; smith shop, 250x70; paint shop, 70x55; carpenter and pattern shop, 115x70; 
iron foundry, 135x70; flask shop, 35x23; cupalo house, 23x22; brass foundry, 
60x50; boiler shop, 250x70; pattern store room, 70x55; and other smaller build- 
ings. The grounds have a frontage of 415 feet on Beaver avenue, running back 
to the Ohio river about 800 feet. Switches of the Cleveland & Pittsburgh 



180 Pittsburgh and Allegheny 

Railroad, with tracks running into the enclosure, give easy connection with all 
railroads centring in Pittsburgh, greatly facilitating, as mentioned in the chap- 
ter on their manufacturing advantages, the receipt of supplies and shipment of 
their manufactured products. These latter are almost exclusively locomotives — 
the company never having embarked in the manufacture of cars. The locomotives 
constructed are of every class of broad and narrow gauge, from five to fifty 
tons weight, and adapted to all kinds of service. They are used in every section 
of the United States, and have achieved a high reputation. The annual capacity 
of the works is about one hundred locomotives of the class usually employed on 
full gauge railroads, to produce which requires the labor of some six hundred 
workmen, mostly skilled, and a vast array of machinery. The projectors of this 
establishment are reaping a fair reward for their enterprise in inaugurating it, 
and the aggregation of this body of mechanics has had a large influence on the 
growth and prosperity of the immediate locality. 

The other works were established for the manufacture of Light Locomotives, 
and are carried on by Porter, Bell & Co. The works were established in 1861, 
by Smith & Porter. Their manufacture of locomotives is of such as are adapted 
to narrow gauge rail roads, contractors' use, furnaces, mills, mines, and all kinds 
of special services; nothing over twenty tons weight being made. The estab- 
lishment has turned out 145 light locomotives in the past fifty-four months. The 
establishment occupies one-and-a-half acres of ground, and there is $150,000 of 
capital in the plant of the works, which has one cupalo of 1,500 tons capacity. 
The establishment, during the past year, under the depression of business, has 
been running about one-half of its capacity, employing 116 hands, whose 
wages amounted to $60,000; used 120 tons of pig metal and $37,500 of steel, 
wrought iron rivets, etc. The office of the works is at No. 5 Smithfield street, 
and the works are on the line of the Allegheny Valley Rail Road, near Fiftieth 
street. 

Iron Bridge Works. 

There are two establishments manufacturing iron bridges in Pittsburgh. 
Style of Works. Style of Firm. Office. Estab'd. By. 

^^^ Works "^^^ } Keystone Bridge Co. 50th street. 1860 Shiftier & Pipper. 

^^^^Works''^^^} ^•^' ^^^^^^^^•- • • 198 Pennav. 1856 C. J. Schultz. 

These two works, when running full, employ 650 hands, whose wages will 
amount to $350,000 a year. They will use about 8000 tons of iron. The space 
occupied by the works is seven acres, and the capital in machinery, buildings 
and ground, $425,000. 

The largest of these, and the largest in the United States, is the Keystone 
Bridge Co., which was organized as a chartered company in 1865. The annual 
capacity of the works is equal to about $3,000,000 of production. As the con- 
tracting parties for the construction of the famous St. Louis and Illinois bridge, 



In the Centennial Year. 181 

having the largest spans in the world, these works have a cosmopolitan reputa- 
tion, and consequently Pittsburgh in this direction of business. The experience- 
acquired in the building of this bridge, and the facilities required to be created 
to carry on the work, has necessarily given this company advantages in con- 
struction. Two hundred and thirteen iron bridges had been erected by the 
company up to 1874. 

The other establishment is an individual works, and while not of as magnifi- 
cent proportions as the Keystone, has a reputation equal to its capacity. The 
bridge across the Allegheny river of the Pittsburgh, Ft. Wayne & Chicago R. R. 
was constructed by the Iron City Works, and the ability of this firm is shown by 
the fact that the old wooden structure was removed and the iron one substituted 
without stopping the passage of a single train. The bridge over Forbes street 
in the city of Pittsburgh is also the work of this establishment, as well as the 
Sylvan avenue bridge. Twenty bridges were constructed by this establishment 
in 1873-4-5. * 

Iron bridges or iron ships, iron cannon or iron water pipe, nothing, be it 
great or small, to be constructed of iron, presents obstacles to the skillful me- 
chanics of Pittsburgh, or draws too heavily on the resources or facilities of the 
city. 

Railroad, Spike and Rail Road Chair Works. 

The manufacture of these important articles is the exclusive business of one 
rolling mill, the " Glendon," Dilworth, Porter & Co. This extensive manufactory 
was started in 1852 by Porter, Rolfe & Swett. It is the only establishment 
of the kind in Pittsburgh. The railroad spikes are manufactured by "Swett's 
Rail Road Spike Machine," the patent of which for the United States is owned 
by the firm. 

The peculiarity of the spikes made by this machine ms, that they are larger 
under the head where the greatest strength is required, and have a sharp chisel 
point, therein differing from the article made by other machines. Although 
fitted to carry on the manufacture of merchant iron in all its branches, the pro- 
duct of their mills is used in. the making of railroad spikes, railroad bolts and 
nuts, fish bars, railroad chairs, and other articles of railroad supplies. The 
works cover an area of about two acres, and the capital in grounds, buildings 
and machinery, is ^400,000. Two hundred and twenty-five hands are employed, 
whose wages will average 1175,000 a year. The capacity of the works is 65 tons 
a day, and during the war period the value of products was |1, 000, 000 yearly. 
The works have 8 spike machines, beside the puddling and heating furnaces enu- 
merated in the table of rolling mills. 

Spikes and Boiler Rivets 

Are, in addition to the quantities turned out by the nail factories attached to the 
rolling mills, manufactured by S. Severance, No. 50 Water street, who makes 
the production of those articles his peculiar business. The establishment origi- 



182 Pittsburgh > and Allegheny 

nated in 1840 with L. Severance, and now employs one steam engine running 
10 spike machines, with a capacity of 3,600 kegs a year. This factory employs 
35 hands, and turns out 40,000 kegs of spikes and rivets a year, worth about 
$150,000; the machinery is valued at $500,000; and the space occupied by the 
works is 50 by 160 feet. 

Manufactories of Wrought Iron Pipe and Boiler Flubs. 
The manufacture of wrought iron pipe and boiler flues is one of the import- 
ant branches of the manufactures of Pittsburgh. There are the following five 
firms engaged in the business. 

Firm. Office. Estab'd. By. 

Spang, Chalfant & Oo. . 70 Sandusky st. . . ^ Spang & Co. 

Evans, Dalzell & Co. . 165 First avenue. 

Byers,McCullough&Co. 98 Water street. . 

Rhodes & Potter, . . 140 First ave. .* . 

National Tube Works, . Wood and 3rd ave. 



1866 Evans, Clow, Dalzell & Co. 

Byers, McCullough & Co. 

1871 Wm. Graff & Co. 
National Tube Works. 



These five firms employ 1,290 hands, whose wages average |625,000 a year. 
The works, occupy a space of 14 acres, and the capital in machinery, buildings 
and ground is $1,150,000. 

These firms turn out wrought iron pipe and boiler flues from J inch to 15 inch 
diameter. The facilities at Pittsburgh for manufacturing this article of general 
use are not approachable at any other point. The best illustration of this is that 
the National Tube Works, originally established at Boston, was removed to Pitts- 
burgh as the point where the greatest combination of facilities for the cheap 
manufacture of this article existed. The capacity for production of these five 
works is equal to 80,000 tons a year; the actual product at present is about 
60,000 tons. The National alone now converting 125 tons iron daily into pipe. 

Cast Iron Pipe Manufacturers. 
One of these, the Franklin, was established in 1837 by Rowan Edgar & Bradley, 
and is now carried on by Jambs Marshall & Co. It has three cupalos of a 
capacity of 20,000 tons. The works occupy a space of about three acres, and 
the capital in machinery and real estate is about $90,000. The works, when 
running full, employ 100 men, whose wages will amount to |40,000. 

The other, the National, Wm. Smith & Sons, is claimed to be the largest in 
the United Sates. It was established by Wm. Smith in 1854, and has four 
cupalos, stated to be of 15,000 tons capacity each. The space occupied by the 
works is five and a half acres. In 1874 the works, employed on a large contract, 
used 25,000 tons pig iron, employed 600 men, whose wages were $350,000. They 
used 500 tons of straw, 500 barrels flour, 346,000 bushels of sand, 50 barrels of 
molassess, and 1,800 barrels of blacking. These works make pipe from IJ inch 
to 50 inch in diameter, and have facility to manufacture 2 miles 2 inch, 3 miles 
3 inch, 3 miles 4 inch, 3 miles 6 inch, 2 miles 8 inch, 2 miles 10 inch, 1 mile 12 

*See Rolling Mills. 



In the Centennial Year, 



183 



inch, J mile 15 inch, \ mile 16 inch, J mile 20 inch, J mile 24 inch, J mile 24 
inch, 1 mile 36 inch pipe each week. These works, owing to circumstances, 
have not been running for the past two years, but are about going into operation 
again. The statistics of the past are given to show the capacity in that branch 
of business here, as well as in others. 

Boiler, Still and Tank Manufactories 
Form another important division of the iron manufactures of the city ; there are 
the following works : 



Firm. 


Office. 


Establ'd. 


By. 


W. Douglass & Son. . 


41 Carson. . . . 


1833 


Withrow Douglass. 


R. Monroe 


12 Water. ^. . . 


1835 


J. Litch. 


D. W. C. Carroll & Co 


3d av. and Liberty. 


1842 


M. Stackhouse. 


Jared M. Brush. . . 


61 Penn av. . . . 


1852 


W. Barnhill. 


James Thorn & Co. . 


2d & Duquesne way 


1866 


McCollister k Co. 


Riter & Conley. 


55 Water 


1861 


James Riter. 


Brenneman & Ward. . 


26 Penn 


1862 


W. Barnhill k Co. 


James Lappan k Co. . 


17th street. ... 


1862 


D. F. Agnew. 


James McNeel k Bro. 


29th and Railroad. . 


1865 


Jas. McN'eel. 


A. Stetler & Sons. . 


17th street. . . . 


1865 


A. Stetler k Sons. 


Eclipse Steam Manuf.Co 




1871 


Eclipse S. M. Co. 


Manchester k Sons. . 


28th and Railroad. . 


1872 


Manchester k Sons. 


James Cuddy k Co. . 


Br's Bl'k, Duquesne way 


1873 


James Cuddy k Co. 


Bauman, Sunday k Co 


3d k Duquesne way. 


1846 


Bauman, Sunday & Co 



These fourteen establishments occupy a space of 42 acres, and the capital in 
machinery, buildings and ground is $358,000. The amount in buildings or 
machinery in carrying on this business is not heavy, the machinery and 
facilities of tools and buildings required not being of an expensive nature. They 
employ 587 hands, whose wages jimount to $269,000. They use 8,445 tons of 
sheet and plate iron, 750 tons castings, 200 tons rivets, 110,000 bushels coal. 
Their production will average |1, 500,000 a year. The building of iron tanks 
for holding the petroleum product of Western Pennsylvania, is a prominent 
feature in this branch of business. Some idea of the immense amount of tank- 
age constructed may be tound from the fact that D. W. C. Carroll k Co. con- 
structed in twenty-four months 2,000 tons of tankage. Nor are the labors of this 
class of works confined to boilers, stills and tanks. In 1871 Wm. Douglass k 
Son built three iron tow boats, and in 18*75 Riter k Conley constructed two iron 
boats to run on South American rivers. Workers in iron, familiar with its con- 
stitution and its handling, experienced in its capabilities, the mechanics of the 
Iron City find no obstacles in the construction of anything of which iron is 
the material. To the skilled workmen of the city, the forge, the hammer and 
the iron bar or sheet, is what it is popularly fabled the jack-knife and the pine 
stick is to the ingenious New Englander. 



184 Pittsburgh and Allegheny 

The Manufacture of Chain Cables 

Is carried, on by two establishments, who manufacture under separate patents. 
Both works are but lately started, and the product is yet of the future. One is 
Union Chain & Cable Co., at No. 1239 Penn avenue, and the other, the Pittsburgh 
Chain & Car Lock Manufacturing Co., at No. 7 Sixth avenue. The two will 
employ about 125 men, when in full operation, and of course their consumption 
of iron will be in proportion to their business, as wrought iron is, beside labor^ 
the sole consumption, except the coal and coke used for fuel. There is another 
establishment carried on by Robson k Campbell, by which hand-made chain is 
produced, but the firm declining to furnish any information, no other record can 
be made. There is also a small chain manufacturing shop where hand-made- 
chain is made, carried on by Wilkinson & Bros., at 926 Penn avenue. 

Wrought Iron Anvils. 
The manufacture of anvils of the above nature is carried on by D. W. Bald- 
win & Co., under the title of the American Anvil Works. - This is the only works 
of its kind in the United States. They were only established in October, 1875^ 
and the statistics are more in the future than in the present or the past. The 
works occupy a space of 50x160, and the machinery is of a value of about |4,000. 
At present 20 hands are employed, whose wages amount to about $10,000 a year. 
The anvils average in weight from 50 to 500 pounds, and the firm expect to turn 
out during the present year about 5,000 anvils. The works are at Twenty-eighth 
and Ptailroad streets. 

Carbon Bronze. 

This is another special manufacture prosecuted in the city. It was estab- 
lished in 1873 by B. W. Baldwin, and is now carried on by Baldwin & Stotler, at 
Twenty-eighth and Railroad streets. The article produced is journal bearings, 
made from a combination of metals that gives the name to the article, which is 
of an oily nature, and not likely to heat. The establishment has used in the 
past three years about 140,000 pounds of copper, spelter and other metals, and 
are using at the present time 600 pounds a day. The production requires but 
few hands, some four or five moulders, and the finished article is worth twenty 
cents a pound. 

Iron Forging. 

Although the forging of iron, in a greater or less degree, in its smaller shapes,.. 
is carried on in most of the machine shops and rolling mills of Pittsburgh, yet 
as a distinctive business, there is but one Forge where large or heavy shaftings,, 
and similar work, is exclusively done. These works are known as the Duquesne 
Forge. They are carried on by Wm. Miller, at the corner of First street and 
Duquesne way, having been established in 1869 by the same person. There is- 
employed in the works, when running full, about 40 hands, whose wages amount 
to |35,000 annually. There are in the forge four furnaces and four forging fires,, 
one four-ton hammer, having a six foot stroke, one two-ton hammer, having a 



In the Centennial Year, * 185 

three and a half foot stroke, and one steam valve hammer of 1,500 pounds. The- 
space occupied by the forge is 85x150 feet, and the capital in machinery and 
buildings is §60,000. About 1,000 tons of forgings are produced yearly. 

Juniata Wire and Rivet Mill. 
W. P. TowNSEND & Co., 19 Market Street — Established 1849. 

It is the only manufactory of the kind in Pittsburgh exclusively devoted ta 
the production of rivets. The establishment makes all sizes of iron and tinned 
rivets suitable for every description of sheet iron and tin plate work, from eight 
ounce to three- eighth inch in diameter. The rivets are all made of the choicest 
Norway iron. The establishment produces about 800 tons of rivets a year,, 
employs 30 hands, whose wages amount to $18,000 a year. 

The same firm carry on the manufacture of wire. The first mill was estab- 
lished in 1827, although the manufacture of wire was prosecuted by R. Town- 
send in 1816. The capital in machinery and building is |100,000, and the product 
about 500 tons of wire a year. The two establishments consume 1,300 tons of 
iron annually. 

Scrap Iron Business. 
The gathering and selling of scrap iron has become an important business of 
the city, and there are engaged in it four principal firms, beside many junk shops,, 
whose gatherings find their way to the larger firms. Those four are : 

Firm. Office. Establ'd. 

Mullen & Maloney Duquesne way and Cecil alley. 1834 

Maloney &; Lanahan 355 Penn avenue 1864 

Warren Springer 4th st. and Duquesne way. . 1872 

W. J. Hammond 11th st. and Duquesne way. . 

These four firms employ 41 hands, whose wages amount to $27,000. They 
use 40 horses and 27 wagons in hauling, and handle 25,000 tons of scrap metal. 
A larger amount of this metal is handled in the city by many small dealers, but 
of it no statistics could be had. Many of the mills also buy direct from parties 
at a distance, all of which, as well as the amount handled by the four firms 
whose names are given, take the place of pig metal in the workings of the- 
rolling mills. 

Glossing and Fluting Irons. 

This is a special and patented manufacture. It is carried on by the Hewitt 
Manufacturing Co., at No. 166 Penn avenue, who employ 10 hands, and prod-uce 
about $30,000 of these articles. 

Manufacturers op Patent Furnace Grates. 

This is another special manufacture of the city. It is pursued by W. C. 
Childs k Co., No. 133 Wood street, by whom the West and South are supplied.. 
No statistics were furnished of their business. 



186 Pittsburgh and Allegheny 

Galvanizing Works. 

The Pittsburgh Galvanizing Works, operated by James McQuiston, corner 
of Twenty-sixth and Railroad streets, is a special establishment. It was estab- 
lished in 1871 by McQuiston & Craft, and employs 16 hands, whose wages will 
«,verage |6,000 annually. The galvanizing of metals is largely carried on, and 
the works consume 200 tons of zinc a year, 125,000 pounds of sal ammonia, and 
^3,000 of acids. The works occupy a space of 80x210 feet. The pickling bath 
is 21 feet long, 32 inches wide, and 18 inches deep. The pot for holding the 
melted zinc is 12 feet long, 26 inches wide, 49 inches deep, and holds 28 tons of 
melted metal. The works are capable of turning out seventy or eighty dozen of 
coal hods, from six to ten tons of wrought iron pipe, or six tons of sheet iron 
per day, and other work in proportion. Mr. McQuiston has lately been filling 
orders for coating plates of homogeneous steel, and has succeeded in galvanizing 
some of very large size, 108x45 inches. Another exploit lately performed at 
these works was the coating of cast iron bath tubs for the country. These 
articles had been ordered from New York, and could not be found in that market, but 
the work of galvanizing them was perfectly done here. 

Westinghouse Air Brake. 

It is of no small interest that Pittsburgh is the birthplace of this extremely 
important invention, as well as the seat of its manufacture. The Com- 
mittee on Science and Arts of the Franklin Institute, in concluding an ex- 
haustive report on the Westinghouse Air Brake, says: "That by contriving 
:and introducing this apparatus, Mr. Westinghouse has become a great public 
benefactor, and deserves the gratitude of the traveling public at least." At 
no time more than when speeding along at the rate of from thirty-five to 
forty miles an hour, does the traveler feel the value of an invention, that 
either by the will of the engineer or acting automatically brings the train 
to a stop in fifteen seconds, without shock or action to disturb the in- 
mates of the cars. Broken bridges, wild trains, accidental obstructions or 
malicious impediments, lost their terrors when the persevering efforts of the 
inventor and his friends succeeded in securing the adoption of this invention, so 
wonderful in its effects. In a series of experiments conducted by the committee 
above quoted, a train running thirty miles an hour up grade, was brought to a 
stop in sixteen seconds, by the engineer. In a second experiment, the brake 
being applied from the interior of the car, a train running between thirty and 
thirty-five miles an hour, came to a full stop in fifteen seconds. In a third 
•experiment, the train running thirty miles an hour, down grade of twenty-six 
feet per mile, the four rear cars were detached, and the brake acting automati- 
cally, the cars came to a full stop in eleven seconds. In another experiment, the 
engine alone being severed from the train, the speed being forty miles an hour, 
•down a grade of 28 feet to the mile, the train came to a rest in lOj seconds. 



In the Centennial Year. 187 

The first experiment quoted showed that a train moving at a speed of 30 miles 
an hour, may be stopped in a distance of less than^SSO feet in a quarter minute's 
time. The second showed that a train, by simply pulling a cord in any part of it, 
may be stopped, when going at the rate of 32 miles an hour down grade, in 552 
feet in a quarter minute's time ; and the third smd fourth^ that if the cars became 
detached, the brakes apply automatically with equal effect. A train running 35 
miles an hour will pass of 3080 feet in a minute, or about the length of an or- 
dinary car in a second. Two trains approaching each other at that speed, com- 
ing into collision, would require only half a second to telescope. The import- 
ance of this invention is thus easily seen from the certainty and celerity with 
which the application of the Westinghouse Brake brings a car or a train to a 
full rest in a quarter of a second, or less. 

The building in which these wonderful brakes are manufactured at Pitts- 
burgh, is 264 feet long by 100 wide ; there are employed in it, in the production 
of the various brakes made, 120 hands, whose wages amount to $75,000 a year. 
There is consumed at the present time 900 tons pig iron, 200,000 bolts, 250,000 
feet gas pipe, 50,000 feet rubber hose, 15 tons rivets, 50 tons ingot copper, 20 
tons malleable fittings, 100 tons merchant iron and forgings, 37,500 bushels of 
coal, and the products of the works in six years has reached $2,250,000 in value. 

There are manufactured the Westinghouse Automatic Air Brake, Vacuum 
Brakes, Locomotive Driver Brakes, Westinghouse Freight Brakes, and Truss 
Brake Beams. These brakes are in use in Canada, New Brunswick, Mexico> 
Cuba, Peru, Chili, Equador, Belgium, England, New Zealand, and Australia, 
all supplied from Pittsburgh. 

Cornice Manufacturers. 
There are two manufactories of cornices from galvanized iron in operation : 

Firm. Office. Established. By. 

H. Adler, 152 First avenue, 1869 H. Adler. 

Rasner & Dinger, . . 16 Market street, 1870 A. 0. Ketteridge & Co. 

They employ 30 hands, whose wages are $16,000 a year, consume about |16,000 
of galvanized iron, $5,500 of zinc, $5,000 tin plate, 8,000 lbs. solder, and produce 
$50,000 of cornices, window caps, etc. 

Machinery and Manufacturers Supplies. 

There are t^o firms who make this branch of trade their exclusive business : 
Firm. Office. Established. By. 

Kay, McKnight & Co. . 75 Water street, . 1868 Geo. H. Stover & Co. 
Hutchison & Co. . . 112 Liberty Street, 1872 Hutchison & Co. 
They deal largely in steam pumps, machinery packing, and like class of goods. 
Their sales amount to about $200,000 a year. 



188 



Pittsburgh and Allegheny 



Firm. 
M. B. Cochran & Co. 
McNish & Butler, . 



By. 
M. B. Cochran. 
McNish & Butler. 



Wood-Working Machinery. 

There are two firms whose business is the manufacture of the above descrip- 
tion of machinery, such as planers, matchers, mortising, tenoning and re-sawing 
machines. The firms are : 

Office. Established, 

121 Liberty street, 1870 
104 Liberty street, 1858 
They employ 90 hands, whose wages amount to $49,000. The space occupied 
by the works is 124 by 169 feet, and the capital in machinery and buildings iff 
$50,000. The product of the works is $150,000. 

Plumbing and G-as Fitting. 
This branch of business is as largely carried on, in a great number of estab- 
lishments, as is required by the necessities of all large cities, and the number of 
gas fitting shops of all grades is forty-five. Most of the large shops are included 
in the brass foundries and in the steam fitting establishments. As near as could 
be ascertained there are about 200 hands employed in this branch of business, 
whose wages will average about $90,000 a year, and the work will amount ta 
quite $650,000 a year. They consume gas fixtures, wrought iron pipes, malleable 
iron fittings, cement, iron castings, iron ware, bath tubs, terra cotta pipe, putty, 
earthen ware, lead pipe, brass work, and minor articles, but the details of the 
consumption of each item were not satisfactorily attainable. 

Steam Fitting. 

There are six establishments which make this a principal and distinctive feat- 
ure of their business ; although each, more or less, work in plumbing and gas 
fitting, and also brass founding. These six are 



Firm. 
Craig Bros. . . . 
Jarvis, Halpin & Co. 
S. Cadman & Son, . 
J. B. Sheriff & Son, . 
Atwood & McCaffrey, 
Wilson, Snyder & Co. 



Estab'd. 


By. 


1845 


Gallagher & Co. 


1858 


W. & S. Jarvis. 


1863 


Cadman & Crawford 


1864 


Sheriff & Loughrey. 


1865 


Atwood &M'Caffrey 


1875 


Wilson,Snyder& Co 



Office. 

139 Second ave. 

35 Fourth ave. , 

Duquesne way. , 

68 Water st. . . 

50 to 60 Third ave. 

Third av. & Liberty. 

These six establishments carry on steam heating and fitting in all its details. 
They employ 40 men in this branch of their business, whose wages will amount 
to about $24,000 a year. They use about 600,000 feet of pipe and produce work 
to amount of $200,000 a year. 

The Manufacture of Gun Barrels 
Is carried on by James Bown & Sons, who established the Enterprise Gun Works 
in 1848, and consume about 20 tons iron and 2 tons steel a year; employ 20 men 



In the Centennial Year. 189 



in these works whose wages will amount to |14,000 annually. There are in use 
in the works seven turning lathes, two planers, two punching machines, two drill- 
ing machines, one bending machine, one steam hammer. 

Dealers in Guns and Sporting Goods. 

There are three firms that make a specialty of this business, viz : 

Firm. Office. Estab'd. By. 

James Bown & Son, . . 136 Wood st., . . 1848 Bown & Tetley. 
J. H. Johnston. . . . 285 Liberty st. . . 1867 J. H. Johnston. 
H. H. Shulte, .... 320 Liberty st. . . — 

These houses deal in all descriptions of guns and other sporting goods; em- 
ploy 21 hands, whose wages amount to |13,200, and their sales to ^210,000. 

Pittsburgh Car Wheel Works. 

This establishment is the only foundry of its kind in Pittsburgh. It was es- 
tablished in 1870 by John L. Gill, Jr., and occupies two-and-a-half acres of 
ground. The works employ on an average 40 hands, whose wages are $20,000 
annually. Cold blast charcoal hanging rock metal is almost exclusively used 
in this foundry, of which about 3,600 tons are yearly consumed. The capital in 
buildings and machinery, etc., is |150,000; about 50,000 bushels coal and coke 
are used in the smelting. The office of the works is at 83 Wood street, Pitts- 
burgh, and the works on Preble avenue, Allegheny city. 

Jobbing Machinists and Iron Railing Manufacturers. 

There are three firms who may be thus classed under this division of business 
of the city. 

Firm. Office. Establ'd. By. 

James Bown. .... 136 Wood. . , . 1848 Bown & Tetley. 

Marshall Bros 71 Diamond st. . 1818 John Marshall, Sr. 

J. Cochran & Bro. . . 86 Third ave. . . 1843 Jas. Cochran. 

These three firms employ 60 hands, whose wages will amount to about 
$35,000 a year. The capital in machinery and buildings is $110,000, and the 
space occupied by the works is about one acre. The product of these works 
will average yearly from $160,000 to $175,000. Their products are varied, em- 
bracing all descriptions of wrought iron work. 

Street Lamp Factory. 
This is a new branch of Pittsburgh manufactures, having been established in 
1872 by Samuel Morrow, at 112 First avenue. At present it employs but four 
hands, and produces about 2,000 lamps a year, and is but the nucleus of a larger 
business. Lamps from this factory have been furnished to towns as far west as 
California. . 



190 



Pittsburgh and Allegheny 



There are eight firms that may be classed as 



Sheet Iron, Tin and Copper Workers; 



Firm. 
J. B. Sherriff & Son, 
J. T. Kincaid, Jr. 
E. W. Demmler, . . 
Sam'l Morrow, . . 
Daeweritz k Roedel, 
Wm. Barnes, . . . 
John Burford, . . . 
Totten & Better, . . 



Office. 
68 Water st. . 
107 First av. . 
180 Liberty st. 
112 First ave. . 
151 First av. . 
47 Market st. . 
50 Water st. . 



Jstab'd. 
1820 


By. 

A. Sherriff. 


1832 


L. & P. Peterson. 


1838 


J. H. Demmler. 


1852 


M. Shirk. 


1858 


Roedel & Co. 


1863 


Roberts, Barnes & Co. 


1864 


John Burford. 


1854 


Price & Beiter. 



. . 157 Wood St. 

These use yearly 12,000 tin plate, |17,000 sheet iron, |19,000 sheet copper,. 
9,000 lbs. solder, employ 60 hands, and pay $30,000 wages; and produce $120,000- 
of manufactured articles. There are in addition to those a number of small 
jobbing shops, employing from one to two men, whose statistics are not attaina- 
ble or important. 

Iron Safe Manufacturers. 

Of these there are three in Pittsburgh. 

Firm. 

S.S.Wks,Thos. Barnes 
Pitts. Safe & Lock Co . 
Reisick & Bro. . . . 

These establishments employ 120 hands, whose wages amount to $88,000. 
They use $7,500 of locks, $7,200 of steel, $3,000 of sheet iron, $2,500 of brass 
castings, $7,000 of cement, $10,000 of furnishing goods, occupy 2J acres of 
ground, and have $103,000 in machinery in use. Among that machinery is 15 
lathes, 24 drill presses, 7 punching machines, 5 shearing machines, 12 grinding 
machines, 2 trip hammers, 3 planers. Their produce is about $150,000 yearly. 



Office. 


Establ'd. 


By. 


129 Third av. . 


1845 


Burke & Barnes. 


167 Penn av. 


1871 


Pittsb. Safe & Lock Co 


16th and Pike. . 


1861 


Reisick & Bro. 



Iron Axle Manufacturing. 

This branch of iron manufacturing is made an exclusive business byAhlbom 
& Neckerman, under the style of the Keystone Axle Works, at Thirty-third and 
Rail Road streets. The statistics of this establishment were not obtained, and 
therefore no statements can be made of its production or consumptions. 



In the Centennial Year, 191 



CHAPTER XV. 



STEEL MANUFACTURING AT PITTSBURGH. 



It being only within a few years past that Pittsburgh steel has attained so- 
great a reputation, the impression prevails to a considerable extent among the 
trade that its production by Pittsburgh manufacturers dates but some ten years 
back. To the contrary, the production of steel has been, with varied fortune^ 
the subject of experiment in Pittsburgh for between forty and fifty years, and 
certain qualities have been successfully made during the same period of time. 
The finer qualities of cast steel, for edge tool purposes, have however only been, 
produced for fifteen years past, although some grades have been successfully 
made for a much longer period, the efforts for their manufacture dating back to 
about 1828-30. 

The production of a quality of steel that should triumphantly compete with 
the English article, is a success belonging solely to Pittsburgh; for although 
the [manufacture of steel had been attempted by persons in various sections of 
the United States, and some of the lower grades made, yet we are unable to find 
record of any establishment outside of Pittsburgh that succeeded in producing 
a reliable tool steel of a quality equal to the English article. The enterprise wa& 
about abandoned in this country, when the success of the Pittsburgh manufac- 
turers revived its spirit; since when several establishments have been put inta 
operation at different points, but leaving Pittsburgh the only great steel produc- 
ing market of America, where are made all qualities, from the lowest grade of 
blister up to the finer qualities of tool, sabre and cutlery steel. 

The exact date at which the manufacture of steel was first attempted in Pitts- 
burgh is uncertain; but in 1828-30, an Englishman, by the name of Broadmea- 
dow, built a converting furnace in the city, and made steel. The enterprise did 
not succeed, the quality of the article produced being very poor. The failure 
was no doubt attributable to the want of proper material ; and this cause was, 
for a long time, the obstacle in the production of the higher grades of steel with 
all who attempted its manufacture, until it was fast becoming a received opinion 
that it could not be made from the native irons of America. Years of experience 
and perseverance have, however, established the contrary fact; and, as before 
stated, steel equal to the best imported article has been, and is daily produced, 
from native irons in the steel works of Pittsburgh. 

Owing to the abundance and admirable quality of the fuel at this point, the 
low cost at which the coke and coal can be procured, together with this being a 



192 Pittsburgh and Allegheny 



good market for charcoal irons, Pittsburgh is the best location in the United 
States for the manufacture of steel. When the use of natural gas is more fuUj 
introduced, that superiority will be yet more strongly developed and maintained, 
and Pittsburgh be not only the cheapest point of manufacture in perhaps the 
world, but her steels, by reason of the purity of the fuel, unapproachable in 
•quality. 

About 1833, Messrs. G. & J. H. Shoenberger commenced the manufacture of 
blister steel, with one furnace, converting twenty-five tons every three weeks, 
And continued the manufacture thereof until 1862.. A firm under the style of 
Whitman & Havens also manufactured steel about 1832. The charcoal irons 
used at that time were admirably suited for the purpose, and the efforts in the 
production of this- grade of steel were successful. The products, however, met 
with that severe prejudice on the part of consumers that Pittsburgh cast steel 
Afterwards encountered. The introduction of the genuine or blister steel made 
At Pittsburgh was attended with considerable difficulty. Consumers could not 
be made to believe that the blister steel of Pittsburgh was in any way equal to 
that brought across the Atlantic, although expert workmen were sent to visit 
consumers to prove to them the fact. It was only after Pittsburgh blister steel; 
which had been rusted by throwing salt water over it, so as to make it appear as 
of English manufacture, was sold ,to consumers that it was found to be all that 
could be desired. 

In 1835 the manufacture of springs and axles was commenced by Isaac Jones, 
which business he carried on until 1840, using the steel made by the Messrs. 
Shoenberger. The demand for springs of Pittsburgh make having, however, 
largely increased, Mr. Jones, associating with him Wm. Coleman, commenced, 
under the firm name of Jones & Coleman, the manufacture of blister, spring, 
and like grades of steel. In 1845 the firm of Jones & Coleman dissolved, and 
Mr. Coleman, after carrying on the spring business for a year, in 1846, associating 
with him J. W. Hailman, John F. Jennings and Samuel Hartman, formed the 
firm of Coleman, Hailman & Co., for a more extended prosecution of the steel 

business. Mr. Jones, associating with him Quigg, in 1845, under the style 

of Jones & Quigg, erected the Pittsburgh Steel Works, manufacturing therein 
blister, spring and plow steel, in which similar line of production the firm of 
Coleman, Hailman & Co. also pursued the business. 

Somewhere about this date a firm under the style of Tingle & Sugden, carry- 
ing on the manufacture of files, commenced on a small scale the making of cast 
steel for their files, and likewise produced a quantity for general sale. Some- 
what previous to this, in 1841, Patrick and James Dunn began manufacturing cast 
steel for G. & J. H. Shoenberger. The works erected by them were quite exten- 
sive, having eighteen or twenty holes or furnaces; but six of the holes were, 
however, run steadily. The enterprise was abandoned after a year or so. One 
of the causes that led to the relinquishment of the business was the difficulties 
arising from the crucibles, which were made principally from American clays. 



In the Centennial Year, 11^3 

At the present time the .^crucibles are made from plumbago chieliy. These 
experimenters iii the manufacture of American cast steel, although producing it 
to a considerable extent, failed to make a first-class article, although that made 
was suitable for many purposes. The material used was Juniata bloom iron. 
It is proper here to remark, however, that at that early day in the series of in- 
vestigations and experiments going on among Pittsburgh manufacturers, to the 
end of obtaining a hrst-class article of cast steel from native irons, the failure 
to obtain from any particular iron the higher grade of steel, or an occasional 
success, cannot be properly placed to the demerit or the credit of such irons as 
unsuitable or desirable, for the manufacture of steel. The isolation of Pitts- 
burgh from labor skilled in that line of treating metals, and various other diffi- 
<juities arising from the same cause, made the production of a bar of good 
quality more the result of accident than skill. Uniformity of temper and of all 
other qualities is the great essential to good steel, and the ability of a mr«nufac- 
turer to produce, from day to day, steel in which there is no perceptible difference 
when worked, is the test of success. Many of the producers of steel then, and 
for a considerable period afterwards, made occasional batches which nearly 
approached a first-class grade, but the chief quality of reliahility was wanting. 
From about 1844, most of the iron manufacturers of Pittsburgh made the 
lower grades of steel, and in blister, spring and plow steel a liandsome amount 
of business was transacted; but Coleman, Hailman k, Co., and Jones & Quigg, 
were perhaps the only two establishments that could then come properly under 
the head of steel works. 

In 1849, Singer, Nimick k Co., a new firm, formed for the purpose of prose- 
cuting the steel business, began the manufacture of blister, spring and German 
steel, and in 1853 the same firm turned their attention to the production of cast 
Steel for saws and agricultural purposes. Previous to that, the firm of McKelvey 
& Blair, who had commenced the manufacture of files at Pittsburgh upon a large 
scale in 1850, made steel for the use of their file factory: and in 1852, turned 
their attention to the production of cast steel for general sale. They are pro- 
bably entitled to the position of being the first producers of cast steel in any 
quantity in the Pittsburgh market. McKelvey & Blair made both hammered and 
rolled steel for the general purposes of the trade, and, during the period in which 
they were manufacturing, introduced Pittsburgh steel into the Eastern markets. 
The firm encountered many difficulties, arising from the before-mentioned iso- 
lation from a supply of labor skilled in the manufacture of steel, but the chief 
difficulty of which they complained was "red shortness." That difficulty, it is 
claimed, they would shortly have obviated by the application in their processes 
of manufacturing of results obtained through experiments made by Mr. Blair 
for the destruction of the red short principle — through the use of zinc — in the 
melting of the steel; but at this time, 1854, the firm ceasing, from pecuniary 
reasons, to prosecute the business, the experiments of Mr. Blair were carried no 
further, and their results became public. 
13 



194 Pittsburgh and Allegheny 

In 1853, the firm of Singer, Nimick & Co., before mentioned, having largely- 
increased the extent and facilities of ^heir works, began the manufacturing of 
the finer grades of cast steel ; and in 1855, Isaac Jones, the successor of Jones 
& Quigg, commenced the production of similar qualities of steel. Up to this- 
period, we find the successful production of steel in Pittsburgh divided into two- 
periods. From the commencement of the manufacture of blister steel up to* 
about 1850-51, blister, spring and German steel was quite largely and very suc- 
cessfully produced. 

From 1851-2 up to 1860, experiments in the manufacture of the higher grades 
of cast steel, for saw, machinery and agricultural purposes, occupied the atten- 
tion of the Pittsburgh manufacturers. In the production of those grades of steel 
great success was obtained, and the steel business of Pittsburgh increased to- 
a very heavy sum. The steel manufacturers, in their experiments during that 
period, discovered that, so far from it being, as was at one time well-nigh con- 
ceded, impossible to make steel from irons made from native ores, the truth was- 
that there were a number of ores, in different localities of the United States, 
highly valuable for the manufacture of iron for the production of steel ; and the 
feeling became general, that there was a higher stand yet to be taken by Pitts- 
burgh manufacturers in the production of that article. 

This feeling led to the formation, in 1860, of the firm of Hussey, Wells & Co. 
for the express purpose of manufacturing cast steel for edge-tool purposes. This- 
firm was, in 1862, followed in the same line by Park Brothers «fe Co.; while Jones, 
Boyd k Co. (successors to Isaac Jones), and Singer, Nimick & Co., turned part 
of their force in the same direction. The results have been happy. The very- 
best qualities of English edge tool and cutlery steel are more than equalled, in 
all requisites, by that now produced in the steel-works of Pittsburgh. In nearly- 
all the leading edge-tool manufactories, Pittsburgh steel has supplanted that of 
English make. What more could be said to show the entire success of manu- 
facturing steel in the United States from native irons? And how suggestive of 
independence as a nation, is the fact, whether from a commercial or a warlike 
point of view. 

It is only about sixteen years since the effort was made to manufacture cast 
steel in the United States to any extent, and to-day the facts show that our 
manufacturers have secured about two-thirds of the American market, the quality 
and finish of American steel being conceded to be fully equal to any imported. 
In the article of homogeneous crucible cast steel boiler and fire plate, that made 
by our Pittsburgh manufacturers is unequalled. Shipments of this description 
of steel have been made from Pittsburgh to railroad companies and steam boiler 
manufacturers across the Atlantic, who pronounce it superior in every respect 
to any produced in Europe. 

In the progress of steel manufacturing at Pittsburgh, the low duties on steel 
were great discouragements; and even with the amendments that have been 
made from time to time, it is questionable if, without the accidental high tariff 



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In the Centennial Year, 195 

produced bj' the increased rates of gold during the war, the manufacturers of 
edge-tool steel would have succeeded. Pittsburgh manufacturers — at much toil 
of mind and body, at heavy expense in experiments, and through a large invest- 
ment of capital — have established, under certain fortuitous circumstances, the 
independence of the American over the foreign steel. The fact suggests the 
natural inquiry: If the country affords material that produces steel that ha9 
nothing to fear by comparison with the best sent from English works, and if, in 
attaining that point, labor has also been educated to a degree of skill that insures 
such success, why not give American manufacturers the benefit of the American 
market, and the ores of the country the advantages of further experiments 
among the great variety existing? Is there any reason why the art of steel- 
making, having through numerous difficulties become one of the fixed facts be- 
longing to the resources of the nation, should not be encouraged to greater efforts? 

Our legislators if they would find the policy best adopted to spread prosperity 
over the land, should carefully take up the histories of the industrial pursuits of 
the American people, and learn how the fostering of them by protection, has 
developed the resources of the nation, and given employment and homes to the 
people. Not only that will be found, but that in all cases the result of home 
competition has been to reduce the cost to the consumer of those articles where 
protection against foreign manufactures has been accorded. Cast steel is an 
instance, and in proof of this fact, Pittsburgh steel is being furnished of equal, 
and in some grades, superior qualities to English steel, at quite three cents per 
pound below what was formerly paid for the foreign article. 

There are now at Pittsburgh ten steel manufacturing works, shown in the 
following table, who manufacture all descriptions of fine edge tool cast steel, 
agricultural steel, German or blister steel, saw steel, and in fact all varieties. 

These ten works have in the aggregate 24 Siemens melting furnaces, 292 
coke melting furnaces, 60 trains of rolls, 88 steam hammers, beside 18 helve and 
trip hammers, 60 puddling furnaces, 170 heating furnaces, 9 steel cementing fur- 
naces, 5 open hearth furnaces. They employ an average of 2,000 hands, whose 
wages will amount to $1,100,000. They use about 15,000 tons pig metal a year, 
and 21,500 tons of blooms and scrap steel, 1,000,000 fire brick, 950 tons fire clay, 
2,500 tons ore, 3,000,000 bushels coal, 1,500,000 bushels coke. The space occu- 
pied by the works is 86 acres, and the capital in buildings, machinery and ground 
is about §3,000,000. The annual product of steel is about 27,000 tons, worth 
$4,200,000. The capacity is quite double the production, and the Pittsburgh 
mills could supplj^ the entire demand of the county, if run to their full capacity. 
In steel, as in iron, Pittsburgh is the preponderating manufacturing community 
of the United States, and it is, as before observed, to the perseverance, pluck 
and business acumen of Pittsburgh steel manufacturers, that the country is to- 
day indebted for its emancipation from dependence upon foreign steel manufac- 
tories, and placed in an independent position, so far as supply of steel is in ques- 
tion, in all qualities, whether, for the arts and uses of peace, or the sterner de- 
mands of national defence. 



196 



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WHITMORE, WOLFF, LANE & CO.'S HARDWARE STORE. 




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In the Centennial Year, 197 

The Edgar Thomson Steel Works. 

The abov.e company for the production of steel rails is a speciality among the 
steel works of Pittsburgh, being constructed and worked solely for the making 
of rails. The works are located at Bessemer, on the main line of the Pennsyl- 
vania railroad, and on the Connellsville division of the Baltimore & Ohio Rail- 
road. They command also for transportation facilities the entire railroad system 
West and South, by a railroad bridge across the Mpnongahela river, forming a 
connection with the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati ct St. Louis Railroad, while the 
Monongahela river, on which the company's grounds front for 3,000 feet, gives 
facilities of water carriage to and from its very doors over the whole Ohio and 
Mississippi system *of navigation. In their location these works are a most ad- 
mirable illustration of those receptive and distributive facilities enjoyed by Pitts- 
burgh manufactories, which are stated in the chapter of this volume treating of 
the manufacturing advantages of the city. 

Located on the very ground where Braddock's disastrous battle was fought 
and the English soldiers fell before the attack of the American Indian, the idea 
irresistably presents itself that on the same battle-ground one of the equally fierce 
contests of commerce is being carried on, and between English and American 
forces again. 

For the whoop and yell of the Indian, the hills echo back the shrill voice of 
the steam whistle and the scape pipe. Where the clink of steel and the rattle of 
musketry filled the air, now resounds the clash and clank of machinery and the 
cheerful sounds of voices busy with the management and working of machinery, 
greets the ear, where, on '-Braddock's direful day," the angry shouts and com- 
mands of contending warriors rose and fell with the varying fortunes of the battle. 
These works, standing thus on the very area of a famous frontier battle, are 
a striking illustration of the conquests of trade, the progress of civilization, and 
yet more so of the progress and growth of Pittsburgh. No grander monument 
to the growth of the nation, the progress of the city, or the triumph of Ameri- 
can manufactures and of American mechanics, could well be built, than this 
complete and comprehensive steel works. 

The whole area of ground is 106 acres, and the buildings now erected are: 
Cupola house, 107 feet long, 44 feet wide and 46 feet high. Converting house, 
129 feet long, 84 feet wide and 30 feet high. House for blowing engines, 54 feet 
long, 48 feet wide and 36 feet high. Boiler house, 1*78 feet long, 40 feet wide 
and 18 feet high. Producer house, 90 feet long, 46 feet wide and 26 feet high. 
Rail mill, 380 feet long, 100 feet wide and 25 feet high, with a wing 100 feet 
long, 35 feet wide and 1*7 feet high. Office and shop building, 200 feet long, 60 
feet wide and 18 feet high. A coal and iron house, 40 feet long, 20 feet wide 
and 10 feet high. The producer house and rail mill have iron side columns 
with timber side framing. All the others are wholly of brick, and all, without 
exception, have iron roof frames and coverings. 



198 Pittsburgh and Allegheny 

The machinery of the works is in full keeping with the size of the works, 
and designed to facilitate all the manufacturing processes. The converting 
machinery comprises 3 cupolas, 5 feet clear diameter and 40 feet high ; 4 spiegel 
cupolas, 2 feet diameter and 40 feet high; two 12-tons cupola ladles upon scales; 
two 5-ton converters, 6 feet clear diameter by 15 feet high. Twelve crane ladles 
for casting, and a full equipment of ingot moulds and flasks for bottom casting. 
The steam machinery comprises 20 tubular boilers, 5 feet diameter by 15 feet 
long, each having forty 4J inch tubes. 

The two blowing engines^ for the converters, have 42 inch steam cylinders, 54 
inch air cylinders, and 48 inch stroke. Each has two 20 feet 20-ton fly wheels. 
A duplex blowing engine is used for the cupolas, with 18 inch steam cylinders, 
60 inch air cylinders, and 36 inch stroke. A horizontal engine, in the cupola 
house, with an 18x24 inch cylinder, drives the crushing and grinding machines. 
A horizontal engine, 36 inch diameter by 48 inch stroke, with a 25 foot 50-ton 
fly wheel, drives the blooming mill; and a similar engine, 46 inch diameter by 
48 inch stroke, drives the rail mill. A 3-ton hammer is placed for cutting the 
blooms and for such hot chipping as may be needed. An engine, 16 inches by 12 
inches, drives the rail saws, and one 18 inches by 24 inches, the straightening 
presses, the slotting machines and the drills for fish plate holes. 

The Hydraulic Machinery comprises — One duplex pressure pump, with 25 
inch steam cylinders, 9 inch water plungers, and 24 inch stroke, and one pressure 
pump, 20 inch and 7J inch by 15 inch stroke; a complete distributing apparatus, 
all the valves of which are connected to a common platform ; two accumulators, 
16J inch dianieter by 9 feet stroke; a ladle crane, 15J inch diameter by 6 feet 
stroke ; 4 cranes, 13 inch diameter by 9 feet stroke, three lor lifting ingots and 
one for the bottom casting flasks; two cylinders, 18 inch diameter by 9 feet 
stroke, with racks and pinions for rotating the converters; one cylinder, 12 inch 
diameter by 24 inch stroke, fixed upon a car, for lifting and removing the 
bottoms of the converters; and two lifts, 9 inch diameter by 27 feet stroke, for 
raising materials in the cupola house. 

The Heating Furnace Plant comprises 20 gas producers in 5 blocks, 6 Sie- 
men's furnaces, each 8 feet wide by 20 feet long, inside of the walls. There are 
two chimneys, each 6 feet clear diameter, and 98 feet high. Three of the 
furnaces will have hydraulic machinery for charging the ingots. 

Rolling Mill Plant. — The ingots are bloomed in a 30 inch 3 high mill, 
which is fitted with feeding rollers, driven by an independent engine, and with 
hydraulic cylinders for moving the feeding tables, for turning over the ingots 
and for moving the middle roll to vary the sizes of the grooves as required. A 
"telegraph" leads to the hammer, and a steam crane piles up the ingots in the 
yard whenever it becomes inconvenient to take them direct to the re-heating 
furnaces for the rail train. 

A 23 inch 3 high train, with 3 sets of rolls, is used for rolling rails. A line of 
driven rollers leads to the saw carriage, and a second line of driven rollers leads" 



In the Centennial Year. 199 

to a 60 feet hot straightening plate. The extent of the works is easily seen 
from the foregoing description. The capacity of the works is 200 tons ingots 
'each twenty-four hours, and 225 tons of rails if rolled in double lengths, and 
200 tons if rolled in single lengths. The works have made 220 tons on a single 
turn, and 4,000 to 4,500 tons in a month. The works employ 500 men, whose 
wages will average |400,000 a year, and will consume 50,000 tons pig metal a 
year. The capital in the machinery, building and ground, is $1,000,000. 

Elliptic Cast Steel Railway Springs. 

The construction of this article is another of those specialities of which so 
.many are among the manufactures of Pittsburgh. The works were established 
in 1865 by six parties in Wisconsin, who selected Pittsburgh as the best site for 
their purposes, and employed then but six hands. In 1866, they were purchased 
out by Calvin Wells and A. French, who form the present firm of A. French & 
Co., by whom the works are now carried on at the corner of Twenty-first and 
Liberty streets. The factory occupies a space of 260 by 100 feet. Up to 1872, the 
works employed 100 hands, and consumed in that year 2,000 tons of steel, and 
the product was |650,000. In the past year, owing to the depression of trade, 
the consumption of steel was only 1,000 tons ; and but 60 hands are employed 
now, whose wages are $36,000 a year, and about 20 tons of springs are daily 
made. The works have double the .capacity of any other in the United States, 
and the capital in machinery, buildings and ground is stated at $154,000. 

Nearly all the passenger cars in the United States are running on this spring, 
and in the past two or three years 250 tons of them have been sent to Canada, 
and English orders filled. 

CuLMER Spiral Springs. 

The manufacture of spiral railway springs and buffers, under this patent, is of 
but recent date at Pittsburgh. The works were established in 1873, by the 
Culmer Spring Co., at the corner of Twenty-sixth and Liberty streets. The space 
occupied by the works is 100 by 100 feet, and the cost of the machinery and build- 
ings $20,000. Under their present scope of working they employ 16 hands, whose 
wages will amount to about $12,000 a year. They consume 200 tons of steel, 
and their sales have already reached $80,000 per annum. In this establishment 
the amount of raw material used is not to be taken as a criterion of the importance 
■of the works, but rather the number of springs made ; of these, however, no ac- 
count can be given, as no record has been kept by the establishment of the num- 
ber turned out. The works are at present but an embryo of a future growth. 

Steel Casting. 
This is a comparatively new class of steel manufacturing in Pittsburgh, and 
hsis been in operation about five years. The business is carried on by the Pitts- 
burgh Steel Casting Company, at Twenty-sixth and Railroad streets, and also by 
tthe Crucible Steel Casting Company, Carson street, south side. 



200 Pittsburgh and Allegheny 

The Pittsburgh Steel Casting Company was established in 1871, and the 
works occupy two and one-half acres of ground. The capital in machinery, 
buildings and grounds, is $100,000. Prom a start with a few crucible fires, the 
establishment has increased until it now has nineteen smelting holes, one Sie- 
mens open hearth gas furnace, one Siemens pot furnace, gas furnace also, and 
a capacity of eleven tons per day. 

Their annual produce is about 800 tons. There is an average of seventy-five 
men employed when running full, whose wages amount to $60,000 a year, and 
there is consumed 300 tons of steel, 500 tons of wrought iron, 50,000 bushels of 
coal and 25,000 bushels ot coke. Starting at first in a modest way, and operat- 
ing under a patent method, they make castings of genuine fine grained crucible 
cast steelj capable of hardening, forging and temper-drawing, and which would 
make castings as fine as any material almost that is run into moulds, with sharp 
and perfect edges, smooth surface, and capable of coring, hollow work, interstice 
work, and yet free from blow holes and sand-mixed spots. 

The company claim that their castings are of a superior strength, capable of 
high polish, and not porous as cast steel casting are, when made in any other 
way. 

The full statistics or facts in relation to the Crucible Steel Casting Company 
could not be obtained. It was built in 1875, has 3 steel converting furnaces, 8 
steel melting holes, and a capacity of 600 net tons a year, and is only as yet in 
partial operation. 

Tool Works, Axe, Saw and Shovel Factories. 

The making of tools is another important branch of the manufacturing 
business of Pittsburgh. While iron is largely used in their production, yet they 
are classed under the steel manufactures of the city, as being more of a steel 
manufacture. There a^-e five manufactories, viz: 

Firm. Office. Bstabl'd. By. 

Klein, Logan k Co. . 33d and Railroad sts. 1856 J. C. Klein. 
Kloman, Park & Co. . 32d and Railroad sts. 1866 Kloman. Park k Co.. 
Hubbard, Bakewell& Co. Dinwiddle & Colwell. 1847 Lippincott & Co. 
Hussey, Binns & Co. . 2Yth and Railroad sts. 1874 Hussey, Binns & Co. 
Metcalf, Paul & Co. . 331 Penn avenue. . 1873 Metcalf, Paul & Co.. 

The variety of tools manufactured by these five establishments is large, and 
each one makes a special class of goods. The Yerona Works, Metcalf, Paul 
k Co., make a specialty of railroad track tools, and is the only establishment 
in the world, that makes a solid eye solid steel pick. These picks are being sup- 
plied to the English market, where they are in much favor, and orders have been 
received from Russia for them. 

-A piece of bar steel of sufficient length to make a pick of desired weight, is 
Keated and passed through a series of blocking, forming, roughing and finishing 
dies, nothing is taken from this piece, all the original stock remains, compressed 



In the Centennial Year. 201 



into a pick, solid steel, and solid eve, and guaranteed impossible to break, espe- 
cially in the eje, by any usage to which a pick can be put. 

The firm also make a specialty of solid steel tools, and have lately finished 
making a tool for cutting steel rails, in perfecting which two years' time has 
been spent. 

The firm of Hussey, Binns k Co. make a solid cast steel shovel, with socket 
and strap complete, an article previously unknown to the trade, each shovel 
wrought from a single ingot. 

The firm of Hubbard, Lippincott Co. are the only firm manufacturing saws, 
and make circular 6 inches to 6 feet 6 inches, and long cross-cut; mill, gang and 
muley saws from 3 feet to 14 feet in length. They manufacture also axes of sev- 
eral kinds, for which the works has a capacity of 100 dozen a day, their 
capacity for shovels being about the same. 

The Iron City Works, Kloman, Park k Co., make all descriptions of fine 
edge tools, and their goods have found, in addition to the home market, a de- 
mand in Germany, Australia and Canada. 

Klein, Logan & Co. manufacture patent tubular eye picks, mattocks, and 
also rakes and fire shovels. These five factories occupy a space of 46 acres, and 
the capital in buildings, machinery and ground is about $311,000. They employ 
430 hands, whose wages in a year amount to |210,000. About 725 tons of steel 
and 3,500 tons of iron are used in the production of their articles. 270,000 
bushels of coal, and 180,000 bushels of coke, are consumed for fuel; and about 
700 tons of grind stones a year. Their product will amount to |545,000 annually. 

Files. 
The manufacture of files is carried on by the Eagle File Works, at Twenti- 
eth and Liberty streets, having the ofiice at 50 Seventh avenue. These works 
were established in 1840, by John England, who then and in subsequent years 
employed five men. The works now employ thirty-five men, whose wages will 
amount to about $18,000 a year. The capital in machinery and buildings is 
about $30,000, and 16,000 dozen of files are turned out annually. The files of 
this works are cut altogether by hand; and using the best quality of steel, the 
reputation of the files is unsurpassed. About 60 tons of steel and 12,000 bush- 
els of coal are consumed annually. Until a few years past nearly all the files 
in the United States were imported, now not one-fifth are of foreign make. 

Crucible Manufacturers. 
There are three works producing crucibles for steel manufactories and other 
uses, but principally for the melting of steel, viz : 

Firm. Office. Estab'd. By. 

McCullough, Dalzell k Co. 36th k Rail Road. 1871 McCullough, Dalzell k Co. 
D. F. Agnew & Co. . . . 120 Rebecca st. . 1872 D. F. Agnew k Co. 

Hussey k Co 49 Fifth avenue. . 1862 Hussey k Co. 

These three works employ 57 hands, whose wages amount to $42,000, and 
produce 200,000 crucibles, worth about $400,000. 



202 Pittsburgh and Allegheny 



CHAPTER XVI 



THE OIL TRADE OF PITTSBURGH. 



Although lard, linseed and other manufactured oils are made at Pittsburgh, 
yet by the oil trade is generally understood the transactions in crude and refined 
petroleum and its products. Fifteen years ago this business had no existence. 
It is the success which has followed the experiments in refining petroleum 
that has largely created the trade. By the refining process, this oil became an 
illuminator of great cheapness, and at once took the markets of the world from 
that reason, as well as by the beauty of its light, and added to the resources of 
the Nation another article of export, which in the fifteen years since its 
utilization has risen to the rank of third in values of our exportation. 

It seems singular that Pittsburgh should have been within hand's reach, as 
may be said, of such wealth, and aware of its existence for years, and yet failed 
to benefit by a development of it at an earlier period. At some future day this 
fact will be classed among the singularities of commerce, as well as the fact 
that while the same substance had been freely obtained in other quarters of the 
globe for many years, it remained for the development of the oil regions of 
Pennsylvania to force the introduction of petroleum as an illuminator, upon th« 
greater proportions of the civilized world. From very early days this then called 
singular substance was known by the merchants of Pittsburgh and the people of 
Venango and Clarion counties to exist in those localities, but was considered as 
one of the curiosities of nature rather than an available article for the purposes 
of commerce. Found oozing from the ground in very small quantities, or lying 
on the surface of water standing in small pits, evidently made by the Indians 
with reference to its collection; a few gallons was occasionally gathered by a 
process of skimming or absorption with blankets and brought to Pittsburgh by 
the timber men on their trips down the Allegheny with their rafts of timber. 
It had acquired an half-accepted, half-fabled reputation as a remedy for bruises, 
burns, sprains and rheumatism, and was occasionally burnt in its crude state as 
lamp oil in the vicinity of the pits from whence it was gathered. The dense 
black smoke produced from the burning of petroleum in its natural form, how- 
ever presented an obstacle to its use as an illuminator, save where necessity 
required an occasional resort to it. The principal uses to which the small quan- 
tities which were then gathered were put, was as a species of patent medicine in 
the same rank as "Seneca" and "British Oil," as a similar substance was called. 
In 1859, Samuel M. Kier, lately deceased, began experimenting in the refining of 



In the Centennial Year. 203 

this oil; induced thereto by the manufacturing of what was then termed "coal 
oil," by distillation of bituminous coal, the results from which are similar in 
character to petroleum. 

At that date, several corporations and companies had been formed at Pitts- 
burgh for the manufacturing of coal oil from bituminous coal. Of these, the 
North American, in 1858, was the pioneer, being closely followed by the Lucesco 
in the same year, and by the AUadin in 1859. All three of these, however, in 
1860-61, abandoned the distilling of coal oil and began refining petroleum; so 
that in reality it may be said that the increasing production of this oil called into 
existence in 1860, ten refineries of crude petroleum. From this time may be dated 
the oil trade of the city of Pittsburgh. 

It is to the persevering efforts of Drake that Pittsburgh is indebted for the large 
trade in oil that she has enjoyed, and the United States for an article of export ot 
such great value, and returning to the country so much real money. While the 
crude and refined petroleum now bought and sold in the markets of, and exported 
from the United States, is chiefly the produce of some three of the counties of 
Western Pennsylvania, yet the petroleum indications undoubtedly extend in an 
oblique belt or zone around the earth, and its course is distinctly marked by the 
districts where it is already obtained for market, and by the points at which it 
crops out, so to speak, in the shape of oil and burning springs. Beginning with 
the Canadian district and passing southwestwardly into the oil district of Penn- 
sylvania, from thence to the Kanawha, then through Kentucky, finding the 
indications at various points, the belt passes into Arkansas, from thence to Utah, 
thence to California. Crossing the ocean it is found in Hindostan, from thence 
changing the direction to a northwestwardly course the belt passes to the burn- 
ing springs of Persia and the "Naptha" of the neighborhood of the Caspian Sea. 
Still pursuing a northwestwardly direction to the petroleum wells of Wallachia, 
and finding traces through Germany, the British Isles are reached. Although no 
petroleum has as yet been found in them, the coal and peat districts furnish on 
distillation, coal oil. From thence crossing the Atlantic the Canadian districts 
from whence the departure was made, are reached, and the circle thus dotted 
out by actual production and unmistakable indications is completed. That this 
is one broad permanent belt of petroleum, remains for actual explorations of a 
long series of years to determine, but that at all the points indicated, greater or 
less quantities are to be obtained, is undoubtedly true. Such immense supplies 
of petroleum as this probable zone Would seem to indicate, might almost on first 
impression lead to the conclusion that the obtaining of that article would soon 
be unprofitable; yet it should be recollected that the deposits of coal are no less? 
if not wider, in range. The progress of civilization as it occupies with fresh 
population and the manufacture and commerce thereof, the successive coal fields 
gives value to that mineral which, ponderous to transport, necessarily finds its 
consumption principally in the immediate district of its production, — while 
petroleum is transported thousands of miles to markets far removed from the 



204 Pittsburgh and Allegheny 

locality of its production. Petroleum, therefore, beside being more than an 
equal necessity to civilization than coal, possesses greater advantages of being 
transportable to consuming markets, long distances removed from its place of 
production. There would seem then to be no fear so long as petroleum continues 
the necessity it now is — taking the general facts in relation to the existence^ 
value and production of that equal primary necessity, coal as a guide. 

It may safely be assumed that until it is superseded in all its chief uses 
by some other article as abundantly found and as cheaply produced, the obtain- 
ing of petroleum will alwaj^s be as profitable where judiciously prosecuted as 
the raining for au}^ other mineral substance; and holders of tracts of good petro- 
leum producing territory will be as wealthy in proportion as the possessor of 
coal, iron, or other producing mineral lands. 

The idea of sinking a well for the procuring of oil in the Venango district, as 
conceived by Drake in 1859, was one of those pioneer thoughts that always mark 
an advance in the circles of commerce or manufacture. In this case, as in most 
others of a similar nature, the effort was met with ridicule, and the originator 
of the idea was obliged to prosecute his scheme through much discouragement J 
and although successful, met the fate of pecuniary ruin that marks the whole 
record of nearly all originators of advances in the developments in trade or 
manufacturing. Drake's success in proving that, by sinking a well, petroleum< 
could be obtained in quantities, made an excitement rarely witnessed in the 
commercial history of any country. The story that oil was being pumped from 
the earth as freely as water, was at first scouted as a farce, then accepted as a 
phenomena, and then believed to be a defined fact pertaining to certain tracts. 
Men were prepared to believe from California experience, that it was possible 
gold might be found in such copious deposits that it could be gathered by the 
shovel full, but that real oil, excellent for burning, for lubricating and all the 
uses of oil, was being pumped from out the earth, in the interior of Pennsyl- 
vania, was beyond belief. When, after a time, it was announced that oil was not 
only pumped up, but that it gushed out of its own power, not by the gallon, but 
at the rate of hundreds of barrels a day, the excitement to embark in the busi- " 
ness and to buy oil territory, became almost a mania. Company after company 
was formed, and from the judge upon the bench, the clergyman in the pulpit, to- 
the servant in the kitchen or the stable, every one was investing in oil stocks,, 
wells and territory. The rapidity with which the business developed was unex- 
ampled. The rise and decline of the ''oil fever," as it was called, is too recent 
to need recalling in the minds of the present business generation. Whatever may 
have been the losses in the flow and ebb of speculation in oil strikes to individ- 
uals, the city of Pittsburgh has been a large gainer in the permanent establish- 
ment at Pittsburgh of a great trade in petroleum. The world as well has been 
greatly benefitted, perhaps to an extent unequalled by few other articles. In 
1860 petroleum was unknown in France as an illuminator. In 1861 forty casks 
were sent there an a curiosity. In 1863 three thousand nine hundred and thirty- 



In the Centennial Year, 205 



four casks were shipped as a commercial adventure. In 1863 the demand for 
exportation was 29,197 casks. In 1864 there was sent to Marseilles alone over 
66,000 casks. The amount exported from New York and other ports to foreign 
markets from 1869 to 1875, is shown in the following tables: 

In 1868, .... 99,281,750 gals. In 1872, .... 151,823,207 gals. 

'' 1869, .... 102,748,604 '' " 1873, .... 236,899,223 ^' 

'' 1870, .... 140,602,305 '' " 1874, .... 235,143,151 " 

"■ 1871, .... 156^514,735 '' *' 1875, .... 232,839,457 '' 

The benefits from the furnishing of this bulk of oil to the world for commer- 
cial, manufacturing and social purposes, is readily to be conceived, but not 
easily placed in statistical or other enumerated form. The benefits in a direct 
shape to Pittsburgh, are to some extent to be arrived at. As before mentioned* 
the success that followed the efforts of Drake to procure oil by boring, soon led 
to such quantities being offered in the market as at once brought it into use as 
an illuminator and a lubricator, and caused the erection of seven refineries at 
Pittsburgh in 1860. 

in the following year, 1861, there were seventeen refineries added to those 
previously in existence; and in 1862 nine more were built; and in 1863 fifteen 
more were constructed. 

From September, 1862, to September, 1863, the export of refined and crude 
petroleum and benzine from Pittsburgh to the East and West, hy railroad alone, 
was 23,739,080 gallons, and a yet additional amount was sent West by steamboat, 
of which there is no record. During 1863 there was exported to foreign ports 
from the United States, 28,250,721 gallons. Of this amount there was shipped 
East from Pittsburgh 26,970,280 gallons, or nearly the entire foreign consump- 
tion. The value of this exportation in New York, in currency, was at an average 
of rates for that year, $9,102,472, the average rates for that year in New York 
being 28 cents for crude and 44J cents for refined. The entire value of the oil 
trade of Pittsburgh for 1863, being nearly eleven million dollars. 

In 1864 five additional refineries were put in operation. During that year 
the entire exportation to foreign ports was 31,872,972 gallons. The shipment 
from Pittsburgh for that year was 25,549,385 gallons, or 35,500 barrels less than 
in 1863. During this year the average rates for crude in New York, in currency, 
was 41|^ cents, and for refined 64f in bond. The value at these prices then, in 
New York, of the oil exported East from the city of Pittsburgh, was, in 1864, 
equal to |13,610,411, and the entire trade of the city about fifteen millions. 

In 1865 the entire exportations to foreign ports from the United States was 
28,072,018 gallons, while the amount shipped east from Pittsburgh was 25,549,385 
gallons. This was worth in Pittsburgh, at the average market rates for that 
year, |9, 929, 096, the average rate for crude being 25| cents, and for refined 52 
1-10 cents. The entire trade of the city may be estimated at twelve millions. 

In 1866 the entire exportation to foreign ports was 67,142,296 gallons, while 



206 Pittsburgh ana Allegheny 

the shipments east from Pittsburgh was 32,879,062. This was worth in Pittsburgh 
$7,421,085, the aggregate rates for crude being 14J- cents, and for refined 31J 
cents, and the entire oil trade of the citj for that year did not reach ten millions. 

P'or 1867 the exports to foreign ports were 62,600,685 gallons, and the ship- 
ments east from Pittsburgh 23,701,760 gallons. The average rate for crude was> 
10|- cents, and for refi'ned 44J cents. This would make the value of the oil shipped 
from Pittsburgh to the east $6,655,286; and taking for the home consumption 
and western exportation an average of previous years in their proportions to- 
eastern shipments, the entire oil trade of the city for 1867 may be put at about 
eight millions of dollars. 

From these figures, most of which are from the actual statistics of exporta- 
tions and recorded prices, it will be seen that from January, 1863, to January, 
ie67, a period of five years, the exportation of oil from the city of Pittsburgh 
brought to it a business and a circulation of money amounting to nearly forty- 
seven millions of dollars, while the whole trade in that period amounted to fifty- 
six millions, or an average of eleven millions yearly. 

During those five years the entire exportation, to foreign ports from the 
United States had been 217,948,692 gallons, and the shipments east from Pitts- 
burgh been 132,396,179 gallons, showing that Pittsburgh supplied over sixty 
per cent, of the whole foreign exportation of petroleum up to 1867. At that time 
there were fifty-eight refineries in the city of Pittsburgh and suburbs ; of these 
fifty-one were in operation, and seven were idle. These refineries employed about 
700 hands, whose yearly wages amounted to $560,000. The refining capacity 
of these refineries was equal to 31,500 barrels a week. The capital invested in 
buildings, machinery, &c., was then estimated to be $7,630,000, and in tanks, 
barges, &c., about $5,432,000. Nearly the entire amount of these sums invested 
had been distributed among the other branches of manufacturing in Pittsburgh ; 
having thus added to the business of the city in five years nearly thirteen 
millions of dollars. There was also expended in repairs annually a sum which, 
it is estimated, amounted to 10 per cent, upon the value of the investments in the 
refineries, barges, tanks, &c., or an annual expenditure of over one and a quarter 
millions per annum among the workshops of the city. 

There were at that time thirty-five Oil Brokers, or Oil Commission Houses, 
doing business in the city, which, with the fifty-eight firms running the refineries, 
makes nearly one hundred new business houses added to the city in the same 
space of time. The oil business had also brought into operation in the city 
cooperages turning out about 7,000 barrels per week, the value of whose work 
is nearly one million of dollars yearly. 

It would seem, then, that petroleum had added to the aggregate business of 
Pittsburgh in those last five years over seventy-one millions of dollars, besides 
distributing in the community for labor directly connected with the refineries a sum 
equal to nearly three millions of wages. 



In the Centennial Year. 207 

From this brief sketch of the petroleum business of Pittsburgh up to 186'r, 
the reader will be enabled to form some idea of the flood of benefit to the world, 
as well as to Pittsburgh, that came pouring into the business world with the flood 
of oil from Western Pennsylvania. The earlier years of the petroleum mining — 
if that term may be used for oil — was one of a speculative character, touching 
almost the verge of gambling. The natural geological peculiarities of the oil 
region, the lay of the oil bearing sand stones, and all the "metes and bounds'^ 
that in any legitimate business give standard character to its prosecution, were 
wanting. The purchase of a tract of oil territory, or the sinking of wells, were 
without any defined rules or probabilities, beyond the accepted conditions of 
'^good^' or ''bad luck." To-day the boring for oil and the entire constitution of 
the production of crude and refined oil, is on the basis of a legitimate business. 
The romance and excitement of the early days of the oil business have gone, and 
the production of petroleum and its products stand in the business world side 
by side with iron, coal or copper. The experience of the past has formulated 
the depths of the earth through which the well is sunk, and given intelligence to 
each strata of sand through which the drill passes, so that he who bores may 
read. Exploration and test have mapped the underground currents of oil almost 
as accurately as the surveyor the water courses on the surface; and the purchase 
of territory or the sinking of a well is to-day undertaken with a reasonable de- 
gree of assurance, almost approaching that with which the mining for other 
minerals is prosecuted. 

Under these things, and the establishment in all the markets of the world of 
refined petroleum as the chief illuminator, in the absence of gas, the oil trade 
of Pittsburgh has become a standard business, and, as will be seen from statistics 
presented, an increasing and valuable branch of the manufacture and commerce 
of the city. The commercial value of that business, it will not fail to be noticed, 
is, however, less than in 1865-6-7, although its bulk in material and all other 
respects has so greatly increased. The extreme low rates that have prevailed 
the past three years are sufficient reason for this, and will not be without its 
compensations in the future in the centering here in that business of so much 
commercial and manufacturing activity, intelligence and capital, whose efl^ect 
will be in a more remunerative condition of the market to hold here the chief 
benefits of such a condition. 

The following table presents the oil refineries now at Pittsburgh, with the 
date of their establishment as accurately as could be ascertained, together with 
their actual capacity in crude oil. The tankage capacity in the subjoined refi- 
neries is equal to 784,181 barrels: 



208 



Pittsburgh and Allegheny 



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In the Centennial Year. 209 

From this it would appear that there are twenty-nine oil refineries in Pitts- 
burgh, having 138 stills, with a weekly capacity of distillation of Crude Petro- 
leum of 126,371 barrels a week, or a capacity of production of 95,000 barrels 
refined oil weekly, which, if they all run full time for 48 weeks, would equal 
4,560,000 barrels a year. This is a decrease from the number of refineries in 
1866, of just fifty per cent. ; but it is an increase of two hundred per cent, in refin- 
ning capacity in ten years. There being 58 refineries with a weekly capacity of 
31,500 barrels, in 1866, as against 29 refineries, with a weekly capacity of 93,000 
000 barrels refined oil, in 1876. Although the refineries of 1875-6, are not run to 
anything like their full capacity, yet the proportionate increase in capacity is 
maintained in actual results under the partial running of the works. In 1866 
the exportation of refined oil from Pittsburgh, by railroad to the East alone, was 
424,848 barrels ; and in 1874 it was 1,247,641 ; being in the actual amount of 
oil refined an increase over the trade of 1866 of 849,696 barrels, or quite two 
hundred per cent., in perfect unity with the increase of refining capacity, and 
demonstrating an absolute increase of that proportion in the oil trade in ten 
years, as shown by shipments to the East alone. To this is to be added those 
to the West and by river. In 1875, this increase fell off from inability of Pitts- 
burgh refineries to ship profitably, owing to the schedule of railroad freights, 
by which Cleveland was enabled to enter the market more advantageously. The 
decrease caused by this freight discrimination was equal to 150,553 barrels ; but 
even under this disadvantage the showing is still, in an exceptional year, a gain 
of one hundred and sixty per cent, in the volume of trade in ten years. This 
■decrease is one of the temporary incidents that occur in all great traffics, and 
has but resulted in opening other avenues for shipment, that will, during this 
year, not only show a return to the full two hundred per cent, of increase in 
trade in the past decade, but gives evidence of a yet further increase. 

Pittsburgh is the natural refining point of the oil of Western Pennsylvania. 
The city should have the entire refining of all the oil of Western Pennsyl- 
vania if facility to do so cheaply is to be the dominating motive, and she will 
at a future day obtain it. There is no doubt that the control of this business has 
by some mistake been for a time lost. The facts however that refining can be 
done here cheaper than at any point by reason of facilities that exist ; placed in 
packages at less cost from similar reason; and that the oil is, in being carried to 
the refineries, at Pittsburgh, transported a portion of the distance required to 
reach its foreign markets, must, as it has, exert a powerful influence in rendering 
Pittsburgh the chief refinery of the United States. The oil exported to foreign 
ports in 1875 was equal to 5,545,987 barrels; or,- after deducting therefrom the 
crude exported, about the capacity of Pittsburgh's refineries. In the chapter of 
this volume on the geographical position of Pittsburgh, and in that on its manu- 
facturing advantages, the great value of the Ohio river to the city is dwelt upon. 
To-day, under the restrictions that railroad freight schedules have placed on 
the growth of the oil trade of the city, the Ohio river becomes the means of 

14 



210 ' Pittsburgh and Allegheny 

emancipating the shippers of oil, and demonstrates its power to aid the growth 
of the business ot the city as fully as the friends of the improvement of its 
navigation by the government could wish. Under inability of Pittsburgh 
refineries to obtain freights over the Pennsylvania and Baltimore & Ohio rail- 
roads at rates that would enable them to enter the eastern and foreign markets^ 
on equal terms with refineries at other points, the Ohio river has been resorted 
to to reach an eastern sea port. Oil now finds transportation at a cost of freight 
that is profitable to the Pittsburgh oil trade, by way of the Ohio river to Hunt- 
ingdon, in West Virginia, and thence by the Ohio & Chesapeake Railroad 
to the city of Richmond. As statistics show that the Ohio river is rarely closed 
one month in the year by ice, it is apparent that a competing freight route to the 
East is permanently open to the oil trade, and other branches of business a» 
well. Under the natural laws of trade, this will ultimately result in justifiable 
freights being accorded by other routes. Pittsburgh, then, under cheapness of 
not only of refining and packing, but freights as well, should regain that full 
control of the refining business of Western Pennsylvania she should always 
have held. The virtue of her position as a half way point between the point of 
production of the crude and its eastern market, at which refining can be cheaper 
prosecuted than elsewhere, gives her the opportunity, if her people exert the 
will. Should they do so, the full refining capacity shown to exist here, may be 
used. When, under the disadvantages in shipping mentioned, the trade has 
increased from 1866 to 1876 two hundred per cent, in its bulk of material han- 
dled, is its greater increase under the shipping facilities opened much to anticipate ? 
At the present time the oil trade of Pittsburgh is one of great magnitude. 
The following table shows the receipts of crude oil for the years specified at 
Pittsburgh : Barrels. Barrels. 

1859, 7,663 1868, 1,031,227 

1860, 17,161 1869, 1,028,902 

1861, 94,102 1870, 1,050,810 

1862, 171,774 1871, 1,146,492 

1863, 175,181 1872, 1,186,501 

1864, 208,744 1873, ........ 2,035,182 

1865, . 630,246 1874, . 1,648,253 

1866, 1,263,326 1875, 1,858,301 

1867, 727,494 

The subjoined table exhibits the shipments by rail to the East in the eleven 

years given : Barrels. Barrels. 

1865, 298,111 1871, 733,943 

1866, 424,848 1872, 743,510 

1867, 498,221 1873, 869,946 

1868, 724,991 1874, 1,247,641 

1869, 596,475 1875, 1,097,086 

1870, 811,158 



In the Centennial Year. 



211 



The following table gives the average production for the past seven years of 
the Pennsylvania oil regions : 



Bbls. a year. 
3,458,700 
3,642,700 
3,763,700 
5,172,900 



Bbls. a day. 

1873, 27,098 

1874, 29,363 

1875, 23,212 



Bbls. a year. 
6,129,600^ 
8,778,900* 
6,963,600 



Bbls. a day. 

1869, 11,529 

1870, 15,479 

1871, 15,879 

1872, 17,243 

The totals for the year are arbitrarily computed on 300 days working each 
year. It is not asserted that that is the average time, as many of the wells flow- 
ing would produce 365 days, yet, as the pumping wells would necessarily, from 
various causes, lose many days : the data assumed is, perhaps, on the average 
not far from exact. By a comparison of the table it will be seen that in the 
proportionate increase of production at the wells and shipments of crude, and 
exportation of refined from Pittsburgh, that the oil trade of the city in its in- 
crease, keeps pace even under the disadvantages previously stated, with the in- 
crease of production. 

The value of the products of the refineries of Pittsburgh, as a money item in 
the whole bulk of the city's commerce is, under the very low prices that have 
rated in the past two or three years, presented at a disadvantage. It is, however, 
a handsome aggregate at even those prices. The aggregate for 1875 has been, 
estimating 42 gals, to the barrel, about $4.50 per barrel, at which rate the ship- 
ments of refined would amount to $4,936,369. The production of this amount 
of refined oil would require 600 hands, whose wages would average about $300,- 
000. The refining used 41,500 carboys of acid, worth $130,985 ; also 234,300 
lbs. of caustic soda, worth $12,472 ; rosin to the amount of 88,000 lbs., worth 
about $1,300 ; paint to the amount of 275,000 lbs., worth $19,250 ; also, 220,000 
lbs. of glue, worth about $33,000. The barrels would require about ten pounds 
of iron to each barrel, which would be about 5,500 tons of hoop iron, worth 
$440,000, and the barrels at a rate of $1.25 each, would aggregate to a cost value 
of $1,371,500. The space occupied by these 29 refineries is 378 acres, and the 
capital in the machinery, buildings and grounds is about $2,248,000, as nearly as 
can be arrived at. The refining of oil, while it is the largest portion of the oil 
trade of the city, does not embrace all the transactions therein. There are, in 
addition to the refineries, the following manufactures of 



Lubricating Oil. 



Firm. 


Office. 


Establ'd. 


By. 


Mills, King & Co. . . 


1 Eighth street. . 


1866 


A. B. Mills. 


H. M. Graham. . . . 


27 Seventh street. 


1874 


H. M. Graham k Co. 


F. Mason 


2 Seventh street. . 


1862 


Mason & Pease. 


Paine, Ablett & Co. . 


27 Seventh street. 


1871 


Paine, Ablett k Tripp 


Grim &; Bros. . . . 


236 Penn avenue. . 


— 


Grim Bros. 


S. M. Hebron & Co. . 


2 Duquesne way. . 







212 Pittsburgh and Allegheny 

These firms handle about 30, §00 barrels of lubricating oil a year, whose value 
is $210,000. In addition there are a number of dealers or brokers in oil, but the 
statistics of their business is so largely included in that of the oil refineries and 
the general statistics of the petroleum trade, that their presentation would be 
nearly, if not quite, a duplication of the figures already given of the receipts of 
crude oils and the shipments of refined. 

There is, in addition to the product of petroleum, three 

Manufactories of Lard Oil. 
Firm. Office. Establ'd. By. 

James Dalzell & Co. . 70 Water street. . 1826 James Dalzell. 

F. Sellers & Co. , , 329 Penn avenue. . 1848 F. Sellers & Co. 

Reese, Owens & Co. . 21 Seventh avenue 1870 Reese Owens & Co. 

These firms have 165 presses: their capacity in consumption in lard and 
production no figures could be had. 

There are also two firms manufacturing 

Linseed Oil. 

Firm. Office. Establ'd. By. 

M. B. Suydam. . . . Rebecca and Craig 1856 M. B. SuycJam. 

Thompson & Lyons. . West Diamond. . — De Haven. 

These two employ 26 hands, whose wages will average |13,520 yearly. They 
use 143,000 bushels seed a year, produce 143,000 gallons of oil, and 3,000 tons 
oil cake. They employ 6 horses and two wagons, and the capital in machinery 
and buildings is |65,000. The space occupied by the factories is 10,000 square 
feet, and their sales average $2,00,000 annually. 



In the Centennial Year, 213 



CHAPTER XVII 



LEAD. COPPER AND BRASS. 



Pig Lead. 



The production of this metal is carried on by but one establishment in this 
city. The Pennsylvania Lead Co., whose office is at the corner of Wood street 
and Third avenue, was established in 1875 for the purpose of producing lead 
from the ores and base bullion brought from Colorado, Utah and California. 
The establishment also uses ores from Mexico. There are employed in the pro- 
cesses eighty men whose wages average from $60,000 to $70,000 a year. The 
freights amount yearly to over |400,000 ; and there is 600,000 bushels of coal 
and 200,000 bushels of coke consumed a year. There is also used 3,500 tons of 
iron cinder, 1,500 tons of limestone, and 150 tons of metallic zinc a year. The 
product is given as from 750 to 1,000 ounces of silver a year, worth $1,400,000, 
and 8,500 tons pig lead worth $1,200,000. The product of lead is disposed of to 
manufacturers in New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore, as well as at Pittsburgh. 

White Lead. 

The manufacture of red lead is mentioned in 1810 as having been carried on 
in Pittsburgh, when in the list given by the census, there were enumerated three 
red lead factories, producing leads to value of $13,100. In 1813 there is noticed 
in Cramer's Almanack, "one white lead factory (Beelin's)." In 1817 the com- 
mittee of Councils reported one white lead factory, employing six hands and 
producing leads to value of $40,000. In 1837 there were eight lead factories, 
p/oducing 74,496 kegs of leads valued at $206,000. In 1857 there were three 
firms employing 65 hands, whose product of white and red lead was valued at 
$443,000. 

It will be noticed on a comparison of the white lead business of 1857 with 
that of 1837, that there is a falling off of five factories, but it will also be ob- 
served that the three factories of 1857 produce 2,754 tons of lead, where eight 
factories of 1837 produce 902 tons, being an increase ©f over two hundred per 
cent. 



214 



Pittsburgh and Allegheny 



Firm. 
T. H. Nevin & Co. . . 
C. A. Wells & Co. ,. . 
Fahnestock White Lead Co 
Davis, Chambers & Co. . 
Beymer, Bauman & Co. 
Armstrong & McKelvej. 



Established 


I. Who By. 


1841 


T. H. Nevin & Co. 


1864 


B. A. Fahnestock. 


— 


Fahnestock White Lead Co 


1866 


Davis, Chambers & Co. 


1867 


Beymer, Bauman & Co. 


1870 


Armstrong, McKelvej & Co 



In 1876 there are seven white lead factories in operation, and one which, from 
business complications, has been closed for the past three years. The six in 
operation are 

Office. 

67 Fourth ave. 

42 Fifth ave. . 

76 Wood St. . 

167 First ave. 

42 Fifth ave. . 

37 Wood St. . 

These factories employ about 175 hands, whose wages will average $100,000 
annually. They use 5,000 tons of pig lead, and produce about 200,000 kegs of 
paint leads of twenty-five pounds each. The space occupied by the factories is 
equal to three acres, and the capital in machinery, buildings and ground is about 
$450,000. There is consumed in the manufacture 150,000 gallons of linseed oil, 
and about 250,000 pounds of acetic acid. The value of the kegs used in pack- 
ing is $50,000. 

Copper Mills. 

There are two copper rolling mills at Pittsburgh, and one copper smelting 
works. The smelting were works originally established to smelt the product of the 
famous Clifi" Mine. It is not now in operation. The rolling mills are those of 
Firm. Office. Estab'd. By. 

C. G. Hussey & Co., 49 Fifth avenue, — C. G. Hussey & Co. 

Park & Co. 122 Second avenue. 1859. Park, McCurdy & Co. 

These two establishments produce copper in its various rolled forms, and em- 
ploy about 100 hands, whose wages will amount to an average of $75,000 a year. 
They consume about 1,100 tons of coke and ingot copper, and produce from 
$600,000 to $700,000 of rolled and stamped copper. The space occupied by the 
works is about seven acres, and the capital in machinery, buildings and ground, 
is given at $276,000. 

Brass Foundries. 



There are ten brass foundries in Pittsburgh. 



Firm. 


Office. 


Estab'd. 


Loughrey & Colls, 


131 First St. 


1820. 


A.Fulton's Sons & Co. 


91 First avenue. 


1832. 


Bailey, Farrell & Co., 


167 Smithfield st. 


1840. 


Craig Bros., 


139 Second ave. 


1845. 


Mansfield & Co., 


13 Second ave. 


1861. 


John Fitzimmons, 


1st and Carson, 


1861. 


Atwood & McCaffrey, 


50 to 60 Third av. 


1865. 


J. B. Sheriff & Son, 


68 Water st. 


1864. 


S. Cadman & Son, 


Duq'ne way, n. 6th, 


1863. 


Wilson, Snyder & Co., 


Third av. & Liberty 


, 1875. 



By 

John Sheriff. 
A. Fulton. 

Geo. Bailey, ^ 

Gallegher & Co. 
Mansfield & Fitzimmons. 
Mansfield & Fitzimmons. 
Atwood & McCaffrey. 
Sheriff & Loughrey. 
(J adman & Crawford. 
Wilson & Snyder. 



In the Centennial Year. 215 

These ten establishments consume 218 tons copper, 266 tons scrap brass, 
1,700 crucibles, 100 tons lead, 22 tons of tin, 3*7,000 lbs. of antimony, 60,000 bush, 
■coke, 60,000 bush, coal in a year, and employ 35 moulders, whose wages will 
amount to about $25,000 a year. The works occupy an area equal to 2 acres of 
ground; and the capital in buildings, machinery and ground is $216,000. 

Bell Foundry. 

There is one manufactory of this class. It was established in 1832, by Andrew 
Fulton, and is now carried on by A. Fulton's Son & Co. This establishment has 
long been well known throughout the western rivers. One of Andy Fulton's 
bells being for years a necessity for every western steamboat. Bells from this 
establishment have been sent to fill orders from China and South America. The 
statistics of this establishment would be interesting, on account of the many 
and various sections of the earth where bells from this establishment have 
rung ; but no satisfactory information could be obtained. 

Britannia Ware Factories. 

There are two firms who manufacture this metal, viz: 

Firm. Office. Establ'd. By. 

Collins & Wright. . . 185 First avenue. 1834 Orin Newton, 
Lang k Luster. . . 104 Madison av. . 1862 Lang & Luster. 

These two factories employ 52 hands, whose wages will average $30,000. 
They consume about 100 tons of the various metals they use in their mixtures, 
and their product is $90,000 a year. 



216 Pittsburgh and Allegheny 



CHAPTER XVIII 



COTTON AND V/OOL MANUFACTURING. 



Although a cotton factory was among the earliest manufactories established 
at Pittsburgh, and from its easy access to the cotton growing region, and its; 
great facilities for distribution of the manufactured product, it is reasonable to^ 
expect cotton manufactures to be among the most progressive of Pittsburgh 
manufactures, yet such has not been the case. Though those which have been 
established have been profitable to those interested, yet the amount of cotton 
manufacturing has not been as large as might be expected. 

Cotton cloths, cotton yarns and batting are, however, among the larger 
branches of Pittsburgh manufactures. The first mention of this manufacture 
in Pittsburgh, we find in Cramer's Almanack for 1804, where in ''a view of the 
manufacturing trade of Pittsburgh," is the following remark : " Carded and spun 
cotton by the carding machine and spinning jenny, $1,000." In 1806 the same- 
publication notices, *'one cotton manufactory which can spin 120 threads at a 
time." In 1808 the cotton factory is mentioned as producing cotton yarns, &c.,, 
*Ho the great credit and profit of its industrious proprietor." In 1810 there 
were two cotton mills, one "working 60 spindles, and the other contemplates 
working shortly 234 spindles." The value of their manufactures is set down at 
$20,000. In 1817 there were "two cotton spinners," as they are called in the 
report of the committee of Councils, who employed 36 hands and manufactured 
cotton to amount of $25,518. In 1837 there were six cotton factories, using 
6,200 bales of cotton, running 21,800 spindles, employing 900 hands, and turning 
out cotton goods to the value of $770,000. 

In 1857 there were five cotton factories, having 33,666 spindles, 659 looms,. 
187 cards, employing 1,330 hands, and using 12,000 bales of cotton. They pro- 
duced sheetings, cotton yarns, battings and tickings, and cotton cordage, to the 
value of $1,269,655 ;* being an increase for twenty years, from 1837, of about forty- 
five per cent. In 1876 there are five cotton mills: 

♦Over valuation at that date. « 



In the Centennial Year. 



217 



^tyleof Mill. 
Anchor. . 

Banner. .. 

Eagle. . . 
Franklin. 
Penn. . . 



Firm. Office. Establ'd. 

Birmingham, Wat- \ Robinson and ,^ ,g 



r Birmingham, Wat- ") Robinson and ) 
\ son Co. j Balkamsts. j 

j Eagle Cotton Mills') ) 

\ Company. / j 

r Eagle Cotton Mills \ Robinson and ^ , g^o 

\ Company. j Sandusky sts j 

E. Hyde's Sons. West Canal. 

J Kennedy, Childs & )^ 38 River ave- ) 
j nue. j 



1886 



1846 



By. 
Blackwell, Bell & Co. 

Voeghtly k Bro. 

Arbuckle & Avery. 

E. Hyde. 

Kennedy, Childs & Co. 



\ Company. 

These mills have the following machinery, and make the subjoined consump 

tions : 

Spindles. Looms. Cards. Hands. Wages. 

Anchor, 11,000 271 40 300 60,000 

Franklin, 2,000 — 20 80 15,000 

Banner, ..... 3,600 32 57 150 32,000 

Eagle, ...... 9,700 220 87 260 50,000 

Penn, 9,000 227 121 300 60,000 

They produce as follows : 



Bales Cotton. 
2,000 
900 
2,500 
3,000 
3,000 



Name of 
Mili. 


Yards of 
Sheeting. 


Value. 


Card 
Yarns. 


Value. 


Pounds of 
Batting. 


Value. 


Bags. 


Value. 


Anchor, . 
Franklin, 
Banner, . 
Eagle, . . 
Penn. . . 


3,000,000 

3,150,000 
2,500,000 


1210,000 

220,000 
175,000 


350,000 

500,000 

25,000 

150,000 


1 70,000 

100,000 

5,000 

30,000 


30,000 

150,000 
90,000 
30,000 


$3,750 

18,750 
15,300 
37,500 


340,300 
200,000 


71,000 
42,000 



The value of machinery, buildings and grounds is $800,000, and the space 
occupied is four acres. 

Woolen Factories. 

This is another class of manufacturing which, from the locality, is one that 
might reasonably be expected to be prominent among the manufactures of Pitts- 
burgh, — there seems to be the same retardation in this as in cotton. There are 
two factories : 

Firm. Office. Establ'd. By. 

C. Reel & Co. . . . 12 Church avenue. 1841 C. Reel. 

S. Bradley & Son. . River av. & Balkam 1857 S. Bradley. 

These running full time employ 58 hands, whose wages will average $15,000* 
yearly. The consumption of wool is about 225,000 pounds, and the product 
$125,000. They manufacture blankets, yarns, jeans, flannels, satinets, &c. 



218 Pittsburgh and Allegheny 



CHAPTER XIX 



MANUFACTURES FROM EARTHY SUBSTANCES. 



Salt. 

As an article of trade, salt is one of the staples of Pittsburgh ; and although, 
from the low price at which it is sold, it does not present so imposing a front as 
some other articles, jet it is deserving of a distinct and separate mention as one 
of the sources of her wealth. Until the beginning of 1796, Pittsburgh was sup- 
plied with salt from the eastern cities, packed across the mountain on horses 
and in wagons, at a high rate of freight. In the beginning of that year Quarter- 
master General James O'Hara had occasion to visit Niagara. He there ascer- 
tained that salt could be brought to Pittsburgh cheaper from the Onondaga 
works in New York State than from the eastern cities. And he was instrumental 
in causing large quantities to be brought by the way of Lake Erie, and thence 
to Pittsburgh by Le Bceuf and French creeks and the Allegheny river. The 
supply from this source was continued until 1810, when the manufacture of salt 
on the Kanawha came into competition with the New York works, whose supply 
was, in 1812, entirely cut off by the war. The opening of the salt works on the 
Kiskiminetas and the Allegheny, produced a third revolution in the salt trade. 
For a period of several years, the salt wells of the Kiskiminetas furnished the chief 
supplies to the Pittsburgh market of this staple. Of late years it is obtained 
nearer home, and but little is now brought to the city from the Allegheny region. 
Salt water, it is now demonstrated, can be obtained in great abundance at 
almost any point in and around the city of Pittsburgh, and a number of salt 
works are in operation in the city which are supplied with salt water obtained 
from wells sunk in the city's area. While this volume has been printing, a large 
flow of exceedingly strong salt water was developed in a well being sunk in the 
very heart of the city, for the purpose of obtaining the natural gas, mentioned 
in the chapter on manufacturing advantages, arid with the salt water, gas 
enough was struck to manufacture the water into merchant salt. This is not 
singular, and creates no surprise, from the fact before stated, that a flow of salt 
water can be obtained in most any quarter of the city. There is in the Sixth 
ward of the city of Allegheny, several wells now being operated ; also in the 
Thirty-sixth ward, Pittsburgh. In one of these, which is 1,600 feet deep, the 
water is forced by pressure of the natural gas up the entire distance, and from 
40 to 60 feet above the mouth of the tube, flowing from 8 to 900 barrels of salt 
water a day, and the escaping gas is sufficient to light the works and heat it. 



In the Centennial Year, 



219 



This well was originally sunk in 1860, with a view of ''striking oil," and bored to 
s. depth of 750 feet, at which depth salt water was obtained. It was re-bored in 
1868 to its present depth, with the results stated. The large veins of gas corres- 
ponding to those in Butler and Venango counties, are supposed to exist at a 
•depth of 2,200 to 2,500 feet, to which depth wells are now being sunk. When 
this gaseous fuel is obtained in the quantities expected, neither the fuel or the 
water for the manufacture of salt will cost anything beyond the cost of boring 
a,nd tubing the well, and the salt factories of Pittsburgh will be without rivalry 
in the cheap product of the article. There are assuredly most wonderful natural 
advantages of almost every description centered at Pittsburgh. There are at 
present in the city of Pittsburgh, four salt factories, making salt from the water 
obtained from beneath the very streets, viz ; 



Firm. 
"Graham & Allen. . 
Hall^r, Beck & Go. . 
Haller, Beck & Co. . 
W. C. & J. M. Taylor. 



Office. Establ'd. 

254 Beaver avenue. . 1868 

Western & Beaver avs 1868 

Chestnut, 36th ward. 1824 

Walnut St, 36th ward. 1871 



By. 

W. B Ross. 
Haller, Beck k Co. 
Anshutz. 



W.C.& J. M.Taylor. 

These salt wells employ 34 men, whose wages will average $14,000 a year. 
They produce about 75,000 barrels of salt a year, worth from $100,000 to 
^120,000. 

Earthenware 
Is manufactured by one firm, the Great Western Pottery Co., 363 Liberty street, 
established by this company in 1874, who employ 40 hands, whose wages amount 
to $20,000; occupy about one-half acre of ground, and there is |25,000 capital 
in the machinery and buildings; the value of the product is about $75,000 
yearly. In the packing there are 60 tons of straw used and 1,200 hogsheads. 



Marble Manufacturers. 



There are eleven large manufactories of 
ments, and other articles for which marble is 



Firm. 


Office. 


F;8tab'd 


W. W. Wallace, . 


319 Liberty st. . 


1832 


W. C. Brown, . . 


48th and Butler sts 


1832 


John Wilkins, Jr., . 


295 Penn avenue. 


1848 


Verner & Co. . . 


286 Penn avenue. 


1856 


John Metcalfe, 


45th and Butler sts 


1859 


J. F. Evans, . . 


45th and Butler sts 


1857 


Alex. Beggs, . . . 


63 Anderson st. . 


1860 


P. C. Reniers, . . . 


346 Liberty st. . 


1860 


A. S. Harbaugh, . 


48th and Butler st. 


1860 


H. Pichardt, . . . 


Penn avenue. 


1872 


Alex. Caskey, . . . 


32d St. and Penn av. 


1871 



marbles, making mantles, monu- 
used. They are 

By. 

W. W. Wallace. 

Chislett & Wilkins. 
John Wilkins. 
John McCargo. 
Evans & Metcalfe. 
Jenkins & Evans, 
Beggs & Lindsey. 
P. C. Reniers. 
A. J. Harbaugh. 
H. Pichardt. 
Dodds k Caskey. 



220 Pittsburgh and Allegheny 



These eleven establishments employ 162 men, whose wages average $103,000 
a year, and the value of their product is |290,0<t0. 

There is one firm manufacturing slate mantles, L. H. Smith & Co., 49 Sixth 
street. They employ 15 men, whose wages amount to 111,760 yearly, and the 
value of the product is about $40,000. 

Hydraulic Cement Manufacturers. 

This business is prosecuted by Mills & Co., whose office is at No. 258 Liberty 
street, and was established in 1867 by the same firm. The principal quarry from 
whence the stone is taken, is at West Newton, where there is a face of the pecu- 
liar limestone from whence this is made, of 150 feet. A second quarry used by 
this firm, is at Mansfield, five miles from the city, where the stone has a face of 
50 feet. The capital in the appliances for the business, which include three 
kilns and two run of stones, is $25,000. The firm employ 22 hands, distribute 
$10,000 wages, and produce 35,000 barrels annually of hydraulic cement. 

The selling of the same article made by other than Pittsburgh factories, is 
done by one other firm, whose sales they state to be 60,000 barrels annually. 

Fire Brick Manufacturers. 
The production of this article is made a special business of by eight firms* 
The statistics of this branch of manufactures are of course compact, being almost 
entirely those of labor and production of brick. In a manufacturing district 
like Pittsburgh, where great heats are applied to the crude substances used to 
produce many of the article manufactured, the article of fire brick is an Import- 
ant item in the consumptions of those factories. The firms are: 
Style of Mill. Firm. Office Establ'd. By. 

J.&J.M.Porter.|3f'«'t'^fi«>n ^ ^1^^ 

( Street. j 

Kier Bros | 369 Liberty > ^^^^ f Glovr, Kier & | 

( Street. j (^ Jones. j 

Bolirar. . I ^^f^p Hammond f 371 Liberty X ^^ 3 ^^^ 

j & Co. \ street. J \ 

Apollo. . Isaac Reese. • • { \VreS^'''^ } ^^^M^t^r""' ^ 

Star |Ha^bison,Walker 22d street. . 1865 { ^^^^^/^^^ Brick | ^ ^^^^^ 

Empire. .\^«^^^' ^^^^^ ^j^^^ Liberty > ^g / Reese, Lemon k^^ ^.^^^^ 
^ J Co. \ street. / \ Co. j 

Murtland& Scott. Second av. . 1863 Jno. Nicholson. . 

Gardner & Bro. . 96J 4th av. . 1864 Nelson & Gardner. 

Sutor & Brice. . 16 Sixth st. 1869 Sutor & Brice. 
These nine establishments employ 262 men, whose wages will amount in a 
year to about $121,000, and the works will produce an average of eighteen mil- 
lion brick and tile, whose value would be about |540,000. 

The Star Fire Brick Co. have the largest works in the city, their whole 
process being carried on at Twenty-second and Railroad streets. The works of 
Messrs. Murtland & Scott are also in the city. The works of the other firms are 
in adjoining counties. 



H 

5d 



S) 


^ 


w 


5S 




H 


CD 


Kl 


a 


CO 


o 


o 


?^ 


D 




t> 


^ 


55 




a 


SO 
> 


?? 


§ 


C/3 






OQ 




H 




9 




M 




M 




H 
CO 




222 



Pittsburgh and Allegheny 



Building Brick 

Is likewise an important branch of manufacture of products of Pittsburgh,. 
There are 25 firms engaged in this business, as follows ; 



Style of Firm 

Wm. Moore. 


Est'd. 
1836 


Who By. 

George Moore. 


Location. 
Pittsburgh. 

13th Ward. 


Men. 
15 


Wages. 
5,850 


Geo. H. Moore, 


1869 


A. A. Moore. 


13th '' 


14 


5,460^ 


Geo. B. Moore. 


1836 


Geo. Moore & Bros. 


13th " 


15 


5,850 


Philip Wensel & Sons, 


1874 


P. Wensel & Sons, 


13th '' 


15 


5,850 


Jno. H. Neely. 
Munn k Greer. 


1872 
1844 


Thos. Neely. 
D. Hutchison. 


14th " 
6th "• 


9 
30 


3,510 
11,700 


Richard Knowlson, 


1845 


Al. Black. 


6th '* 


12 


4,680^ 


Geo. Moffitt. 


1863 


Geo. Moffitt. 


6th " 


12 


4,680 


Robt. H. Mawhinney. 
Rob't Coward. 


1860 
1853 


Jas. Mawhinney. 
Rob't Coward. 


6th '' 
6th " 


9 
50 


3,510 
19,500- 


John Keefe. 


1869 


Thos. Keefe. 


11th '' 


15 


5,850 


Jno. Knowlson & Son. 


1873 


Jno. Knowlson. 


21st " 


12 


4,680 


J. W. Beckett. 


1865 


Superior Press Co. 


19th '' 


17 


6,630 


D. Blair & Bro. 


1866 


D. Blair. 


19th " 


22 


8,580 


S. McKinlej & Bros. 
Geo. R. Dickson, 


1862 
1860 


S. McKinley & Bros 
Pitts. St'm Brick Co. 


16th " 
Homestead. 


35 
50 


13,650 
19,500 


John Huckestine. 


1867 


Jno. Huckestine. 


Allegheny City. 
37 Fairmont st. 


41 


15,990 


John Huckestine. 


1870 


Z. Gillespie. 


Preble avenue. 


20 


7,800 


John Kerr. 
Jacob Miller. 
Miller & Co. 
Jacob Frantz & Co. 


1856 
1865 
1866 
1849 


Wm. Dick, 
Jacob Miller. 
J. Campbell. 
Jacob Frantz. 


78 Ackley st. 
Strawberry lane 

u u 


8 

. 30 

8 

25 


3,120 

11,700 

3,120 

9,750 


Thos. Barclay, 


1868 


Porter & Dalzell, 


6th Ward, 


10 


3,960 


Henry Falkner. 


1854 


H. Falkner. 


370 Beaver av. 


25 


9,750 



The total number of men employed is 499, whose wages amount to |184,- 
610; they employ 140 horses, 82 wagons, consume 1,140,000 bushels of coal, 
and produce 54,500,000 brick annually. Worth at present rates of $6.00 per thou- 
sand, $327,000. The value of the improvements is $147,000, and the area of 
ground occupied by these kilns is 106 acres. 



Glass Sanj). 

Is manufactured by one firm, Speer, Clark & Co., foot of Grant street, by the 
crushing of rock. The business was established in 1839, by Lewis M. Speer; 
there are 25 men employed, whose wages average $13,000 a year ; 21,000 tons of 
sand is produced, and the sales average $75,000 a year. The capital in mill, etc. 
is $51,000, and the space occupied about 8 acres. 



In the Centennial Year. 



223 



Sewer Pipe and Terra Cotta Ware 



Is largely sold, and manufactured to a considerable extent ; several of the parties 
engaged in this do not, however, manufacture in the city. The establishments 
are 

Office. 
372 Penn street. 
358 '' '' 
133 Second avenue. 
41 Federal street. 
258 Liberty street. 
369 " ^' 

These six firms sell about $226,000 of the pipe and terra cotta ware. There 
are five other firms dealing in the same description of goods from whom no sta- 
tistics were obtained. 



Firm. 
N. U. Walker, 
Akron Pipe Co. 
H. H. Collins, 
W. T. Dunn & Co. 
Mills & Co. 
Wm. Hutchinson. 



SstaVd. 


Who By. 


1842 


N. U. Walker. 


1848 


Akron Pipe Co. 


1860 


Carlisle & Co. 


1862 


R. B. & C. A. Brocket. 


1867 


Mills & Co. 


1869 


Wm. Hutchinson. 



224 



Pittsburgh and Allegheny 



CHAPTER XX 



MANUFACTURES FROM ANIMAL AND AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS. 



Tobacco. 

The business of manufacturing tobacco and segars, and the wholesale dealing 
in the same, is an important branch of the business of the two cities. The 
greater bulk of the business is in segars, of which there are a large number of 
factories. There are in Pittsburgh 148 segar factories, employing 592 hands, 
and in Allegheny 102, employing 408 hands, making 250 manufactories of segars 
in the two cities, whose total employees number 1,000, and whose wages aggre- 
gate $390,000. There were sold in 1875, by the Allegheny factories, 11,266,044 
segars, and by the Pittsburgh factories, 18,201,650, being 29,467,699 in all. The 
value of these was $589,940, as near as could be ascertained. The ennumeration 
of these factories would fill larger space than can be spared in this volume. 

There are, in addition, several firms, jobbers of imported and domestic 
segars, and also of tobaccos. These firms are : 



Firm. 


Location. 


Estab'd. 


By 


Chas. C. Baer, . . 


108 Wood street, 


1863 


McCallister & Baer. 


Joseph M. Sickell, . 


40 Wood street, . . 


1864 


J. M. Sickell. 


Henry Dalmeyer, . . 


53 Liberty street, . 


1852 


Henry Dalmeyer. 


Pretzfeld Bros. . . 


145 Liberty street, . 


,1866 


Pretzfeld Bros. 


Herzog & Bachman, 


240 Liberty street, . 


1871 


Wm. Herzog. 


John Hays, . . . 


265 Liberty street, . 


1846 


John Hays. 


Voigt & Davidson, . 


228 Liberty street, . 


1873 


Voigt & Davidson. 


John Fullerton, . . 


279 Liberty street, . 


1837 


John Fullerton. 


Weyman & Bro., . 


81 Smithfield street, 


1823 


Geo. Weyman. 


These firms emplo; 


Y 48 hands, whose wages will average $30,000, and their 


sales $650,000. 


• 






There are four firm 


s dealing in 

Leaf Tobacco. 






Firm. 


Location. 


Estab'd 


By 


Martin Heyle, 


330 Liberty street, 


1850 


M. Heyle. 
Pretzfeld & Bro. 


Pretzfeld & Bro. . . 


245 Liberty street. 


1866 


Maul & Grote, . . . 


. . 181 Liberty street, 


1871 


Maul & Grote. 


,S. W. Day, . . . . 


. . 100 Wood street, 


1874 


S. W. Day. 



These four firms sell about $250,000 of leaf tobacco. 



In the Centennial Year. 225 



There are two 

Manufacturers of Tobacco. 

Firm. Location. Estab'd By 

W. & D. Rinehart, Cor. Water and Short sts. 1838 W. & D. Rinehart. 
R. & W, Jenkinson, 287 Liberty street, . . 1861 R. & W. Jenkinson. 

They employ 80 hands, whose wages average $33,000 a year. The capital in 
machinery is about $35,000, and their sales of manufactured tobacco about 
$125,000. 

From these figures it would appear that the tobacco business of Pittsburgh 
and Allegheny, in what may be called its wholesale and manufacturing branches, 
amounts to about $1,909,000. 

There are, in addition, a large amount of retail dealers, of whose business 

no statement is made. 

Breweries. 

There are in Pittsburgh and Allegheny nineteen breweries. Of these six brew 
ale, and thirteen lager beer. The six ale breweries are : 

style of Works. Style of Firm. Office. Estab'd. Who By. Capacity 

Pittsburgh. j'^^^^^^^^^^^^^HDuquesne way 1854 Rhodes (fe Verner. 700 

Darlington's. H.Darlington. 110 Federal st. 1867 H.Darlington. 350 

-nt, • f Spencer, 1 24th & Small-) ,o._ .r^ j e^ tt i, oe/^ 

Phoenix. i ^f ^ o n > ^ > 1845 Wood & Hughes. 350 

\ McKay & Go | man sts. j ^ 

Winterton. { l^^,, } ''tZ'St" Y'^' { 'iT ''^"^^^''' } ^^^ 

Young & Booth. 463 Rebecca. 1828 R. A. Irwin & Co. 150 

^ (Pier, Dan- ] Stevenson and 1 ,o.^ ,^^ 

Oregon. | nels & Co. } Forbes. r^*" 10" 

These six ale breweries employ 207 hands, .whose wages will average $150,000 
a year; 258,000 lbs. of hops, and 364,000 bush, of barley are used; the sales are 
$750,000 a year, and the value of the buildings, machinery and ground is $775,- 
000 ; 24 wagons and 60 horses are employed in the transportations of the material 
and product. 

There are also thirteen lager beer breweries, who employ 100 hands, whose 
wages will amount to $61,000 ; they consume about 200,000 lbs. hops, and 250,000 
bushels of barley. The value of their sales will average about $360,000, 

Flour Mills 
There are in Pittsburgh and Allegheny five mills manufacturing flour, viz : 

Style of Works. Style of Firm. Office. Estab'd. Who By. 

Wm. Provost. 1921 Josephine. 

Gilmore k Go. 148 South Canal. 1826 Voeghtly. 

iron City. Whitmyer k Co. 38th and Railroad. 1874 Whitmyer k Co. 

Marshall, Kennedy & Co. 15th and Liberty. 1850 Wilmarth&Noble 

J. Born. Second & Middle. 

16 



226 



Pittsburgh and Allegheny 



These mills employ 80 hands, whose wages would amount to $50,000 ; the 
value of the machinery, buildings, etc;., is $152,000 ; the space occupied by the 
mills is over one acre, and the value of the product about $900,000. 

Cracker Bakeries. 
The manufacturing of crackers is one of the leading businesses in the suste- 
nance division of the cities' occupations. There are four manufacturers : 

Office. Estab'd. 

91 Liberty street. . 1831 

29 Seventh. . . . 1842 

295 Liberty ave. . 1857 

187 Rebecca street. 1871* 
These four manufactories employ 135 hands, whose wages amount to $61,000- 
a year. They use 26,000 barrels of flour a year; 1,700 barrels of sugar; 560 
barrels molasses; 460,000 lbs. lard; 35,000 dozen eggs; 33,000 pounds fruit. 
Their sales average about $500,000, and the value of the machinery, buildings 
and ground used in the works is about $215,000. 



Firm. 
S. S. Marvin & Go. 

Snowden & Kemp, 

E. Maginn, . . . 

Jas. McClurg <fe Co. 



By. 
John Davis. 

Martin Connolly. 

E. & C. Maginn. 

Jas. McClurg & Co. 



Firm. 

Kiefer, Stifel & Go. . 
A. Holstein, . . , 
Frederick Dorlzel, . 
A. k J. Groetzinger, 
Lappe & Hax, . . . 
Jas. Gallery & Co. . 
D. Beitler &: Co. . . 


Tanneries. 

Office. 
River avenue. . . 

River avenue. . . 


E8tab»d; 
1872 

1862 

1851. 

1800 
1875 
1865 
1867 
1865 
1860 
1863 
1867 
1844 


By. 

Kiefer, Stifel & Go. 

A. Holstein. 

Iron City. 

C. Groetzinger k Son 




Spring Garden av. 
276 River avenue. 
East street. . . . 


Wm. Hays. 
D. Beitler & Co.* 
Jno. Adams. 
Jno. McElhany. 

Henbangner. 

H. Barbarch. 
Hartley,McKee & Go, 
G. Kann. 
Wm. Flaccus. 


Jno. McElhany, . . 

Henbangner, . 

Henry Barbarch, . . 
Hartley Bros. . . . 
G. Kann, .... 
Wm. Flaccus & Son, 




Ohio street. . . . 
Pleasant Valley. . 
58 Smithfield st. . 
210 Liberty street. 
35th & Rail Road sts 



These fourteen tanneries employ 166 hands, whose wages will amount to 
$85,000 a year. They tan 70,000 hides, besides sheep and calf skins: and their 
product is worth about $850,000; the space occupied by the tanneries is nearly 
21 acres. 

Neats-foot Oil, Glue, Bone Dust and Fertilizers. 

This business is carried on by one firm, W. A. Hoeveler & Co., whose oflfice 
is at No. 25 Seventh street. They employ 50 men,''whose wages will average 
$25,000 a year. They produce from 5,000 to 7,000*;pounds of glue a day in the 
season for manufacturing, 10 tons a day of bone dust^and fertilizers, and about 
250 barrels neats-foot oil a year. 



In the Centennial Year. 



227 



The establishment occupies some 16 acres, and the capital in machinery, 
ground and buildings, is .^50,000. The firm also manufacture curled hair of all 
grades. Of this latter article, there are two other factories, whose statistics 
could not be had. 

Soap Manufacturers. 



Firm. 


Office. 


Establ'd. 


By. 


B. C. & J. H. Sawyer . 


47 Wood street. . . 


— 






W. & H. Walker. . 


Third and Middle sts 


1837 


W. & H. Walker. 


Reed & Co 


253 Liberty street . 


1868 


Wm Reed. 


Strunz & Wetzel. . . 


816 Biiigham street. 


1854 


S. Strunz. 


Wilson & Gorman. 


- 199 Fourth avenue. 


1826 


Gr. W. Jackson. 


A. Wilson <fe Co. . . 


45 Ross street. . . 


1834 


A. Gftmore. 



These firms employ an average of 50 hands, whose wages will reach $30,000. 
They will use rosin to amount of $44,000; tallow, $120,000, and $8,000 of cocoa 
and palm oils. Their product will reach $450,000. The space occupied by the 
factories is over seven acres, and the value of the buildings and machinery, 
$200,000. 

Broom Manufactories. 



Firm. 

McElroy & Co. . . . 
Abdiel McClure & Co 
Lang & Co. . . . 
L.H.Smith. . . . 



stabl'd. 


By. 


1852 


McElroy & Co. 


1873 


H. R. McClelland. 


1874 


Lang & Co. 


1873 


L. H. Smith. 



Office. 
80 Third avenue. 
309 Liberty street. 
331 Liberty street. 
65 Sandusky street. 

These four firms employ 133 hands, whose wages average $39,000 a year. 
They consume 650 tons of broom corn annually, 850,000 broom handles, 18 tons 
of wire, 6 tons of twine, and produce about 70,000 dozen brooms, worth about 
$200,000. 

Brush Manufactories. 

The manufacture of brushes is also among the industries of Pittsburgh. 
There are, beside some few small shops making a few dozens yearly, six facto- 
ries, where the making of all descriptions of brushes is quite largely carried on, 
one of the establishments, Stewart, Bro. & Co., being the largest west of the 
Allegheny Mountains. The firms are : 

Firm. 
Stewart, Bro. & Co., 
Late F. W. Stewart & Co 
James Loughridge. 
J. D. Thompson. 
Duncan & Dilks. . 
L.H.Smith. . . . 



:} 



Office. Establ'd. By. 

359 Libertv street. . 1851 D. Stewart. 



171 Smithfield st. . 1854 

176 Wood street. . 1857 

87 Wood street. . . 1875 

65 Sandusky street. 1873 

These employ 50 hands, whose wages will average $35,000 a year. They use 
about 40,000 pounds of bristle a year, and a large amount of tampico and other 
material. Their pseducts will aggregate $190,000 a year. 



Loughridge. 

J. D. Thompson. 
Duncan & Dilks. 
L. H. Smith. 



228 Pittsburgh and Allegheny 



CIIAPTEK XXI 



MISCELLANEOUS MANUFACTURES. 



Architectural Iron Works. 

A manufactory of irons for architectural purposes is one of the special busi- 
nesses of Pittlliurgh. The firm of W. B. Scaife & Sons, 119 First avenue, make 
it their chief business to shape, prepare and frame iron for the building of rail 
road depots, rolling mills, and all descriptions of buildings used as manufacto- 
ries. These works are yet another illustration of the increase of Pittsburgh in- 
dustries, having grown from a small tin, sheet iron and copper working shop, 
established in 1802 b}'- Jeffrey Scaife, the grand-father of the present proprietors. 
The works occup}^ 15,000 square feet on the ground floor, extending from First 
to Third avenues; the chief portions of the buildings being three stories in 
height. The machinery used, which is of a great variety, represents an invest- 
ment of $30,000; and the capital in ground, buildings and machinery alone is 
about $150,000. The establishment gives employment to an average of 60 hands, 
to whom $40,000 of wages are annually paid. The consumption of iron, which 
is steadily on the increase, has been in previous years from 800 to 1000 tons yearly. 
The firm are also manufacturers of "Scaife's patent dome head-range boilers." 
Of these a large amount are annually made, the consumption of iron for which 
is included in the tons previously given. This is the largest range boiler works 
in the United States; and it is a fact of interest that the greater proportion of 
their product goes to the Eastern cities, and also that these boilers are ordered 
from and exported to Germany. 

Japanned and Pressed Goods. 

The manufacture of these goods was established in 1839 by John Dunlap, at 
the site, corner Second avenue and Market street, where he still pursues the 
business. This establishment presents a fair representation of the progress of 
Pittsburgh's manufactures. At the time of its establishment, its products "vrere 
made entirely by hand tools, the word machinery not applying to the simple 
instruments used thirty years ago. The establishment has now six large drop 
presses and four pressing machines, worked by a twenty horse power engine. 
Some of the work produced has still to be done b}^ hand, and in that 8 hand 
presses are employed. At the establishment of these works, one small ware- 
house of 20 by 80 feet, was too much for the business, which now requires 5 
warehouses. Then three or four hands performed all the work; now an average 



In the Centennial Year, 229 

of 60 hands are employed. As illustrative of the proportional growth of Pitts- 
burgh in all branches, the facts of the progress made in this firm, as well as 
in others, are stalled. 

The variety of articles made in this branch of Pittsburgh's manufactures is 
great. Toilet sets, fine coal hods, copper hods, copper tea kettles and tea can- 
nisters, and all descriptions of Japanned and press tin ware goods, in almost 
endless variety. 

There are two establishments in the city in this branch of manufactures: 



Firm. 


Office. 


Establ'd. 


By. 


John Dunlap. . . 


2d av. and Market st 


1839 


John Dunlap. 


Fleming, Agnew & Co. 


Market st. and 3d av 


1857 


John Fleming, 



These two establishments employ 125 hands, whose wages will amount to 
f 60, 000 yearly. They will consume 100,000 of tin plate yearly, beside block 
tin, sheet iron, lead, copper, to a large amount. They will use over 50 tons of 
straw yearly in packing, and produce from $175,000 to |200,000 of articles. 
The capital in machinery is about $70,000. 

Enamelled Tin and Hollow Ware Goods. 

There are two extensive establishments of this description in operation in 
Pittsburgh, viz : 

Firm. Office. Estabrd. By. . 

Standard Manuf. Co. . 296 River avenue. . 1866 Hartje. 

Alborn, Clark & Co. . 96 Beech s.treet. . . 1874 Wylie & Co. 

These two factories occupy two acres of ground, and employ 115 hands, 
whose wages will amount to |60,000. The capital in machinery, grounds and 
buildings, is estimated at $160,000. and the products is about $150,000 yearly. 
At present, one of the establishments, the ''Standard," is the only one in the 
West that tins cast iron ware. 

Tar Chemical Works. 

This manufactory, operated by H. A. Clifford & Co., is the only one in Pitts- 
burgh. The products from tar are varied, as well as curious. From tar this 
establishment produces not only roofing and paving cements, light and heavy 
tar oil, but also all the beautiful analine colors and oil myrbune, used in the place 
of almond oil for flavoring soaps. The products of the works are about $50,000 
annually; and the labor often hands, whose wages amount to $10,000 annually, 
is required. They use 12,000 barrels of tar, 50 drums caustic soda, 1,500 carboys 
of Bulphuric acid, 50 tons nitric acid. The space accupied by the works is over 
one acre, and the capital in buildings and machinery about $20,000. The works 
are at No, 170 Rebecca street, Allegheny. 



230 Pittsburgh and Allegheny 

Glass Mould Making. 

The making of glass moulds is another industry of Pittsburgh. There are 
three works where this branch of manufacturing is prosecuted. 

Firm. Location. Estab'd. By 

A. Thompson, ... 90 Eighth street, S. S. . — A. Thompson- 

Washington Beck, \ . 60 Sixteenth street, S. S. 185Y W. Beck. 
P. Smith & Co., . . . 129 First street, ... — L. Knight. 

There are employed in this business 35 hands, whose wages will average 
$30,000 a year. The value of their products will amount to |70,000 annually. 
The largest of these works is that of Washington Beck, in which 8 turning 
lathes, 2 planers, 3 shapers and three drill presses are used. This establishment 
is another exemplification of the growth of Pittsburgh workshops. When first 
started, nineteen years ago, the space occupied was 12 by 8 feet; the works now 
are 60 by 60 feet, three stories in heighth. This establishment is represented by 
its work in Japan, Canada, and chief cities of the United States. 

Pots for Glass Factories. 

There are two establishments in this city that manufacture pots for glass 
works exclusively. 

Firm. Location. Estab'd. By 

Thos. Coffin & Co. . . 10th and Bradford sts. 1864 Thos. Coffin, 
Boyle, McLaughlin & Co. 15th st., above Carson, 1875 Boyle, McLaughlin & Co. 

These two works employ 73 hands, whose wages will average |25,000 a year. 
They will consume about 4*75 tons German, clay, 1,000 tons Missouri clay. The 
value of the products average $80,000 a year; the value of the buildings and 
machinery is |22,000, and they occupy nearly one acre of ground. 

Wooden Ware Works. 

The making of wooden ware is carried on at Twenty-eighth and Railroad 
streets, by W. H. Berger, under the style of the Pittsburgh Wooden Warb 
Works. The factory was established in 1861 by White & Berger. It has 5 dry 
houses, holding 24,000 pails ; one 56 inch circular saw and 2 lathes. The works 
employ 35 hands, whose wages amount to $17,000 a year, and manufacture 
about 92,000 pails and 20,000 tubs, when running full; also 159,000 boxes for 
packing glass. At present the product of the factory is $60,000 to $70,000 
annually. 

Gas Works Manufacture. 

This is a special branch of manufacturing carried on by Smith & Goldthorpe. 
It was established in 1871, and is in prosecution of the production of a patented 
gas works, for the making of fixed gas for vill'ages and rural residences. The 
enterprise is a new one, and not yet fully developed; but during 1875 there were 
turned out 150 works, giving employment to 30 men, and consuming 80 tons of 



In the Centennial Year, 231 

stove castings, 200 tons of pipe, 50 tons of boiler iron, $4,500 of gas fittings. 
The steel works of Singer, Nimick & Co., of which an illustration is among 
those of this volume, is lighted by one of the gas works made at this establish- 
ment, and also the City Poor Farm. 

Agricultural Irons and Implements. 

This branch of business is carried on by A. J. Nellis & Co., at the corner of 
Allegheny avenue and Rebecca street. It was established in 1870, employs 100 
hands when running full, and occupies about two acres of space, with machinery 
and buildings worth |1 7,000. There are in the works 3 hammers, 3 furnaces, 5 
lathes, 2 punchers and 5 forge fires. The product of the works will average 
about $130,000 a year. Several specialties are among the products of the work, 
being agricultural articles. 

Stained Glass. 

There are two factories in Pittsburgh for the manufacture of stained or col- 
ored glass for churches, public halls and dwellings. The quality is equal to any 
turned out in the East or West, and no point is better adapted for its cheap 
production. Glass and fuel, the bulk of the articles used in its production, are 
peculiarly Pittsburgh staples. The firms are : 

Firm. Office. Estab'd. By. 

Wm. Nelson. . • . 23 Market street. . 1852 Wm. Nelson. 
Carter Bros First and Carson sts 1862 J. G. Carter. 

These two firms employ 31 hands, whose wages amount to $20,000 a year. 
The space occupied by the two factories is 102x175 feet. Stained glass lights, 
60 to 70 inches long, are made, and the product of the works is about $80,000 
yearly. 

NiCKLB, Gold and Silver Plating 

Is carried on by Walter E. Hague, No. 136 Wood street, by whom the business 
was established in 1869. The details of the product are told in the title of the 
business. There are used in the works 2 turning lathes, 2 polishing machines, 
and 1 electro magnetic machine. The business employs 9 hands, whose wages 
amount to $6,000 a year, and there is used 200 pounds of nickel, 1,000 ounces 
of silver and 30 ounces of gold, in the plating done in a year. 

Solid Silver Spoon and Fork Works. 

An establishment of this description is carried on at No. 136 Wood street, by 
Isaac Garrison, who established the business in 1868. There are three hands 
■employed in the works, and spoons and forks made to the value of $10,000. 

Harness and Saddlery Manufacturers. 
The making of saddles and harness is prosecuted in thirty-two shops in the 
two cities. The great majority of these are, however, small individual shops, 



232 Pittsburgh and Allegheny 



Firm. 

Phelps & McKee. 
Lougbrev k Frew. 
D. Frey. . . . 
G. W. Ache. 



Estab'd. 


By. 


1834 


R. H. Hartley. 


1830 


McOlurkan & Beatty 


1861 


E. Frey. 


1872 


G. W. Ache. 



employing only from one to two or three hands, including the proprietor. The 
principal firms are 

Office. 

26 Wood street. 

142 Wood street. . 

100 Liberty street. 

114 Liberty street. 

These employ 71 hands, whose wages will amount to |47,000 a year, and their 
product to $250,000. The remainder of the manufacturers in this line employ in 
the aggregate 80 hands, whose wages will be |56,000, and their product is of the 
value of $250,000. The aggregate number of hands employed in the trade being 
151, and their wages |100,000, and the total product $500,000. 

Leather Belt Manufacturing. 

There is but one establishment carrying on this branch of business, which 
was established in 1836 by E. H. Hartley, and is now pursued by his sons under 
the title of Hartley Bros., at No. 58 Smithfield street. They manufacture leather 
belts from one to forty inches wide, using for that purpose the product of their 
own tannery, having sixty vats. They produce from 200,000 to 300,000 feet 
per year, employing eight hands, whose average wages per year will be about 
$5,600. 

Looking Glass and Picture Frame Manufacturers. 

There are five firms manufacturing looking glasses: 

Firui. Office, Estab'd. By. 

J. J. Gillespie & Co. . 86 Wood street. . 1838 J. W. Gillespie. 
James Loughridge. . 71 Smithfield st. 1854 Loughridge & Marshall. 
Pickersgill, Lyon & Co 141 Wood street. 1850 Wm. Pickersgill, Jr. 

Boyd S. & Co. . . . 66 Fifth avenue. — 

J. G. Young & Sons. . 141 Smithfield. . 1848 J. G. Young. 

These five firms employ 80 hands, whose wages will amount to $54,250, and 
their sales to $275,000. One of these firms, J. J. Gillespie k Co., are importers 
and dealers in French plate glass. There is one firm exclusively engaged in the 
manufacturing of show cases, F. Pollard, No. 45 Ninth street, established in 1871. 
The factory employs seven hands, pays $4,082 of wages, uses $7,000 of metal 
frames, and produce $23,000 of show cases. 

Paper Bag Manufacturing. 

The making of paper sacks is largely carried on by one establishment. Of 
late years, the practice of using a strong, heavy paper bag for packing flour, has 
become the custom, as well as the same material for sacks for other substances, 
for which wood was formerly used. The making of these sacks is prosecuted 
by the "Elkhorn Mills/' Godfrey & Clark, No. 270 Liberty avenue. The business 
was established in 1861 by E. B. Godfrey. These sacks are made by machinery, 



In the Centennial Year. 



23S 



being cut, folded into form and pasted, while passing through the machinery. 
The rapidity with which mile after mile of paper can be run through this 
machine, going in at one end sheet or roll paper, and coming out at the other 
sacks, is something that must be seen to be comprehended. A roll of paper a 
mile in length, was just seven and a half minutes in passing through the cutting^ 
and pasting process. This single roll of paper made 5,780 sacks; showing that 
if the machine was kept running at the same speed for one hour, it would make 
46,240 sacks, or 462,400 per day of ten hours. 

The machinery is said to have a capacity to cut 200,000 bags a day. Here- 
tofore, mill owners and others have been compelled to go East for the sacks, but 
now it is a significant fact that almost the entire western custom is filled by 
Godfrey k Clark, of Pittsburgh. There are 30 hands employed in this establish- 
ment, and the wages are $15,000 yearly. 



Paper Box Factories. 

There are five firms who manufacture paper boxes of all descriptions for all 
the uses to which boxes made of paper can be put : 

Firm. 
D. C. Kneeland. . 
Edwin Greaves. 
Joseph Shaw. . . 
Machett & Co. . . 
A. Walker & Sons. 



, Estab'd. 


By. 


1842 


D. C. Kneeland. 


1856 


Chas. Buckley. 


1866 


Buckley & Shaw. 


1868 


Alex Machett. 


1870 


A. Walker & Sons 



Office. 
369 Liberty street. 
92 Third avenue. 
72 Wood street. . 
74 Third avenue. 
196 Liberty street. 

These firms employ 84 hands, whose wages will average $20,975 a year. They 
use from 300 to 400 tons of straw board a year, and produce work to the value 
of $75,000 a year. The value of the machinery in use is about |22,000. 

There is also one Cigar Box Factory carried on by D. J, Rex, employing 
seven hands, using 150,000 feet of lumber, and producing work to the value of 
$10,000. 



234 Pittsburgh and Allegheny 



CHAPTER XXII 



MERCANTILE INTERESTS. 



The term ''Merchants of Pittsburgh/' first occurs in Smollet's History, in a 
mention of the transaction of Major General Stanwix, at Fort Pitt, in the winter 
of 1759-60. 

In 1803 the entire commerce and manufactures of Pittsburgh were summed 
up at $350,000. Of this, |93,000 was created by what was then termed the 
^'Bartering trade," or, the exchanging of one article of merchandise for another. 

In 1808 there were fifty store-keepers or,merchants. In 1817 there were 109 
stores of various kinds in the city; and in 1836 there were 250 stores. 

There is no doubt that Pittsburgh has, in her devotion to manufactures, 
neglected her mercantile or commercial opportunities. What those appear to 
others, the following extract from the Chicago Bureau indicates. 

The editor says: "Pittsburgh has always been, by its natural advantages 
^nd manufactories, a supply point for the West; which has also been the chief 
market for its production. We believe in a healthy competition as the life of 
progress and trade. Yet, when one visits these vast and varied factories ; notes 
the natural union here of minerals and fuel ; the ponderous combinations of 
machinery, skilled labor and capital; with the able and experienced brains at 
work in the management of the same, he is apt to think there can be little 
ohance elsewhere for the same enterprises with much show of success. It is 
certain that there is small probahility of a discovery al any other point of similar com- 
hined advantages for manufactures. 

Were we located at Pittsburgh^ however^ we should counsel her citizens not to continue 
the error they are at present guilty of: namely — a neglect of commercial interests^ while 
■securing the supremacy in manufactures. The natural position of that city for trade 
is something wonderful to think of. Had it been properly improved, it would 
have given her to-day a population of half a million. As a depot for exchange 
a.nd trans-shipment of the products that naturally come to her as a centre, she 
controls the Mississippi basin. There is no point along the frontier of the Atlan- 
tic States westward, that is so commanding as a trade mart, as that of Pitts- 
burgh." 

There can be no reason given, that mercantile enterprise and commercial activ- 
ity cannot overcome, why a distance of twelve hours or three hundred miles from 
the sea coast, should act as an obstacle to a large wholesale dry goods, hardware, 
^oot and shoe, or other commercial goods business being transacted. The extent 
to Which it is now transacted, while showing a large increase in amount in the 
past decade, is by no means in accordance with the strength of the position 
occupied by the city. 



In the Centennial Year. . 235 



Taking into consideration the fact, that in all particulars the Pittsburgh 
wholesale merchant stands upon equal footing with those of the eastern cities, 
in all the facilities for procuring his stock — -buying from and acting as the agent 
of the same manufacturers — importing from the same European sources — paying 
never more than they for the articles in which he deals, and able from the less 
expense, to do an equally remunerative business on five per cent, less profit, one 
point upon which to found this belief is apparent. 

All things in prices, terms, and other business considerations in purchasing 
being equal between the two points contrasted, it is at once obvious to the 
prudent buyer that the advantages already mentioned as belonging expressly to 
Pittsburgh, from the advantage of lessened expenses and some others also belong- 
ing to Pittsburgh over western cities seeking the same trade, is guflScient to decide 
which point is the best. There is probably no city in the Union wiih such 
advantages for a great commercial business, as Pittsburgh, and it needs only 
the push and enterprise displayed in other cities in these things to develop her 
equal results. Of late years this has been exerted in the commission business 
and wholesale grocery business especially, and as a consequence, the increase in 
those lines of business has been marked. 

As a point for transactions in produce the same advantages present them- 
selves as are prominent in her adaptability for commission business, and there 
is no room for doubt but that capital and exertion would soon render this one of 
the largest grain and produce markets in the country. The varied and extensive 
advantages for transportation already recited as possessed by Pittsburgh, gives 
■the facility for reception, while the same channels present avenues for forwarding 
it to the seaboard either speedily or cheaply and more leisurely. 

In the wholesale business of dry goods, hardware, boots and shoes, etc., the 
same remarks apply; and it is certain that when Pittsburgh's lines of com- 
munication by rail are opened with the South, as shown in her railway system, 
that under proper exertion and commercial enterprise, those branches of busi- 
ness will, as has been the case in the past ten years, continue to increase and 
grow. 

AVholesale Dry Goods. 

There are a number of extensive firms in this line of business in the city. 
They will at all times duplicate the prices of the markets of New York and 
Philadelphia in their line of goods. The stocks they keep are extensive, well 
assorted and judiciously selected. They are at all times prepared to extend to 
solvent buyers as ample accommodation as the eastern houses. The expense of 
transacting business in Pittsburgh is trifling to what it is in the eastern cities; 
and the difference between the personal and business expenses of a dry goods 
firm in Pittsburgh and one in New York or Philadelphia, is of itself a very 
prQtty profit. This simple fact is one to be considered by the prudent pur- 
chaser. The greater the expenses of transacting business and of living, the larger 
per cent, of profit is necessary to meet such expenses and realize the expected 



236 



Pittsburgh and Allegheny 



Firm. 
D. Gregg & Co. . . . 
Arbuthnot, Shannon & Co 
McCandless, Jamison & Co 
*J. Home & Co. 
Haines & Sheibler 
Isaac Taylor. . 
Jas. A. McNally. 
C. Yeager & Co. 
*Bernd & Co. . 
*Porter, Donaldson & Co 



Establ'd. 


By. 


1856 


D. Gregg. 


1843 


C. Arbuthnot. 


1836 


Gordon & Gregg. 


1850 


J. Home & Co. 


1852 


Hampton, Wilson & Co 


1859 


Gregg & Taylor. 


1866 


J. A. McNally k Co. 


— 


0. Yeager & Co. 



1872 



Porter,Donald3on & Co 



per cent, upon the capital employed ; and it is the customer of the jobber who 
pays these expenses. The Pittsburgh jobber has the same access to the manu- 
facturing markets of the world as those of any other city, and is as competent 
to secure desirable goods at as low prices. With the thrifty merchant who 
knows the value of a dollar and the advantage in sales that a well and cheaply 
purchased stock of 'goods is, it is not a matter of where his goods are bought, 
as how they are purchased. 

There are now in Pittsburgh the following strictly wholesale dry goods 
jobbing houses: 

Office. 
... 141 Wood St. 

238 Liberty st. 

103 Wood St. 

11 Market st. 

94 Wood street. 

129 Wood St. 

60 Wood street. 

110 Market st. 

Fifth avenue, 

Liberty & 5th av. 

These firms employ 144 hands, whose wages will amount to |93,000. The sales 
will average during the past three years, $4,400,000 annually, but were much 
more in the few years preceding the panic of 1873. The depression of trade 
affecting this branch of business here as elsewhere. In addition to this, there 
are 16 retail, and retail and wholesale houses, whose sales will average about 
$7,000,000. 

Wholesale Hardware. , 

There are a number of hardware firms here who always keep excellent and 
'extensive stocks of general hardware and cutlery. They are prepared to meet 
customers at any time, upon as accommodating terms as any of the eastern 
houses; and they make it a standing offer to all who visit this market to dupli- 
cate eastern bills, without regard to freights. The wholesale hardware firms of 
Pittsburgh stand upon the same footing in the procuring of their stocks as the 
best eastern houses. In all cases the articles come from the same American 
manufactories, and are imported in the same way from Europe, and at the same 
cost. There is no reason why the merchant purchasing from the eastern jobber 
should not do so from the Pittsburgh jobber; and there is the advantage of 
freights, traveling expenses, time, &c., as a reason why he should purchase at 
Pittsburgh. There are no better selected stocks to be found in the East, than 
here; and as before stated, the Pittsburgh jobber is prepared and willing to ex- 
tend as liberal terms to the solvent purchaser as can be had in any city of the 



♦Wholesale millinery. 



In the Centennial Year. 



237 



seaboard. The same remarks made touching the expenses of transacting busi- 
ness ill dry goods, applies equally to the hardware houses, and the position upon 
which the jobbing houses ot Pittsburgh of all kinds stand, may be thus summed 
up. While in every advantage or procuring their stocks, style, assortment, 
profuseness, cheapness, «.tc., they- stand equal with the jobbers of any eastern 
city, they have at all times in the smallness of their expenses, the advantages of 
five per cent, over the East; which per cent., as previousl}^ mentioned, they are 
willing to sfive the advantage of to their customers. There are the following 
firms in the city : 

Firm. 
Logan, Gregg k Co. 
Whitmore, Wolff, 

Lane k Co. 
Lane Bros. . . . 
England & Bindley. 
Fahnestock k Murray 
J. W. Woodwell k Co 
Lindsay, Steritt k Co 
P. H. Laufman k Bro 
Thos. Birney k Co. 



''} 



Office. 


Establ'd. 


By. 


52 Wood St. . 


1831 


Logan & Kennedy. 


50 Wood St. . 


1836 


Whitmore k Wolff. 


173 Liberty st. 


1847 


Whitmore & Co. 


52 Seventh av. 


1853 


John England. 


58 Wood St. . 


1829 


Saml. Fahnestock. 


35 Wood St. . 


— 


J. W. Woodwell. 


247 Liberty st. 


1867 


Lindsay, Sterett k Co. 


82 Wood St. . 


— 


P. H. Laufman. 


70 Wood St. . 


1872 


Thos. Birney k Co. 



These firms employ 78 hands, whose wages will average |65,000, and their 
sales are about |1, 250, 000. 

There are also the following firms dealing in 



Saddlery Hardware. 

Firm. 
J. Herdman k Son. 
Thos. Hare k Bro. . 
M. McWhinney & Bro. 
Lyle, Barchfield & 
McOance. . . 

These firms deal in all goods that pertain to this branch of trade, and employ 
30 hands, whose wages will amount to $20,000 a year, and their sales to $450,000. 



'} 



Office. 


Establ'd 


By. 


105 Wood St. . , 


1843 


J. Herdman. 


135 Wood St. . . 


1856 


McWhinney, Hare k Co 


137 Wood St. . . 


1866 


McWhinney, Hare & Co 


107 Wood St. . . 


1871 


r Lyle, Barchfield & 
\ McCance. 



Wholesale Boots and Shoes. 

In this business there are several large firms whose stocks are always well 
selected, and who purchase from the same manufacturers and at the same prices 
as eastern jobbers in this line. The fact that all their advertisements contain a 
standing offer to duplicate any eastern purchased bill, is evidence of how secure 
they feel of their ability to compete with the shoe dealers in the cities of the 
Atlantic coast. There are seven houses which do a wholesale business, viz : 



238 



Pittsburgh and Allegheny 



Firm. 
H. Childs & Co. . 
Geo. Albree & Co. 
Wm. E. Schmertz. . 
Wm. Pickersgill, Jr., 
J. H. Borland. . .. 
Gill Bros. . . . 
D. Gregg, Son k Co. 



Office. 
133 Wood St. 
71 Wood St. 
43 Fifth av. 
149 Wood St. 
53 Wood St. 
252 Liberty st. 
159 Wood St. 

These seven firms employ 59 hands, whose wages will average $45,000 a year, 
and the sales will amount to $1,600,000 a year. One of the firms, Wm. E. 
Schmertz & Co., is largely engaged in the manufacture of boots and shoes, em- 
ploying 200 hands in the branch of business separate from those in the wholesale 
department of the^firm. The consumption of stock by these workmen is about 
$140,000 a year. 



stabl'd. 


By. 


1817 


John Albree. 


1831 


Geo. Albree. 


1848 


W. E. Schmertz. 


1859 


Wm. Pickersgill, Jr. 


1860 


J. H. Borland. 


1863 


John Gill, Sr. 


1866 


Dhim, Gregg & Co. 





Wholesale Leather 


Dealers. 




Thete are eight firms transacting a wholesale leather business, viz : 


Firm. 




Office. 


Established 


By. 


James Callery & Co. 




102 Liberty street. 


1800 


Wm. Hays, 


A. Steinmeyer, . . 




139 Smithfield st. . 


1839 


A. Steinmeyer. 


John G. Brant, . . 




357 Liberty street. 


1859 


Hammit & Knox. 


G. W. Hoifstott, . . 




299 Liberty street. 


1850 


Wilkinson & Bell. 


Wm. Mooney's Sons, 




271 Liberty street. 


1862 


Wm. Mooney. 


D. Chestnut & Co., . , 




315 Liberty street. 


1867 


D. Chestnut. 


G. Kann, 




210 Liberty street. 


1867 


G. Kann. 


Wm. E. Junker, . . 




8 Smithfield street. 


1870 


Junker,Dietrich& Co 


These firms employ 


28 


hands, pay 18,000 wages, and 


make sales to amount 


of $570,000. 











Wholesale Notions and Fancy Goods. 



There are eight firms doing an exclusive wholesale business in this branch of 
trade, viz : 

Office. 
176 Wood St. 
74 Wood St. . 
65 Wood St. . 
65 Wood St. . 
73 Wood St. . 
42 Fifth ave. 
Wood St. and 3d av. 
63 Wood St. 

These firnts employ 30 hands, whose wages will amount to $20,000, and thoir 
sales will average $600,000. 



Firm. 
J. D. Thompson & Co. 
J. Mithellenger, . 
James Cochrane, 
J. S. Johnston, . 
J. H. Leitman, 
Morganstern & Co. 
Casey & Mitchell, 
M. Herzog & Bro., 





Establ'd. 


By. 


. . 1857 


J. D.Thompson & Co. 




1866 


J. Mithellenger. 




1868 


James Cochrane. 




1868 


Carson & Johnston. 




1874 • 
1845 


J. H. Leitman. 


lav 


Casey & Mitchell. 



In the Centennial Year, 



239 



Wholesale Liquor Dealers. 

There are 17 firms who make dealing in liquors b}^ wholesale their exclusive 
business. Thej are : 

Firm. Location. Estab'd. By 

Miller, Forse & Co., ... 211 Liberty street, 1831 Wm. Miller. 

James Littell, 237 Liberty street, 1833 Robert Bell. 

Schmidt & Friday, . . . 384 Penn avenue. 1836 Wm. Schmidt. 

James Bryar, 127 Liberty street, 1836 John Anderson. 

Casey k Fogartj^, .... 339 Liberty street, 1847 R. Watson & Co. 

Thos. R. Kerr, 327 Liberty street, 1852 AVm. Carr & Co. 

S. McCrickart, 337 Liberty street, 1854 S. McCrickart. 

M, McCullough, Jr., k Co. 355 Liberty street, 1848 M. McCullough, Jr. 

Adler k Roedelheim, . . 143 First avenue, 1861 Adler, Rosenberg & Co. 

Ph. Hamburger, .... 96 Liberty street, 1868 Ph. Hamburger. 

Millinge;*, Hersberger k Co. 132 Water street, 1868 M., H. k Co. 

J. J. Speck & Co 145 Water street, 1866 Dierker & Speck. 

M. Munhall & Co 17 Water street, 1870 M. Munhall k Co. 

E. Wormser k Son, . . . 151 First avenue, 1871 Wormser k Sons. 

Getty & Co 184 First avenue, 1872 Getty k Co. 

James McDonald k Co. . . 345 Liberty street, 1875 James McDonald k Co. 

J. C. Finch, . .-. . . . 136 Water street, 1874 J. C. Finch. 

These 17 firms employ 99 hands, whose wages will average $90,000 a year, 
and their sales amount to $1,925,000. 

One of the above firms, J. J. Speck k Co., also manufacture, as a specialty, 
domestic cordials, in which they use 300 barrels of sugar, 11,000 bottles, and 
produce blackberry, cherry and raspberry brandies. 

Distilleries. 



There are four firms carrying on an exclusive business of distilling whiskies, 
as follows : 



Firm. 


Location. 


Estab'd. 


By 


A. Guckenheimer k Bro. . 


93 First avenue. . 


1833 


Thos. Bell. 


Joseph S. Finch k Co. . . 


189 First avenue. 


1852 


Thos. Moore. 


Wm. H. Holmes, .... 


117 Water street. 


1857 


W. H. Holmes 


Thos. Moore, 


189 First avenue. 


1870 


Thos. Moore. 



These four establishments employ 120 hands, whose wages amount to $102,000 
a year. They use about 600,000 bushels of grain a year, and produce about 
50,000 barrels a year of whisky. The capital in machinery and buildings is 
about $350,000, and the value of that product $4,000,000. The capacity of the 
works is about 450 barrels a day. The largest of these works, the Westminster, 
has betn lying idle for the past three years. 



240 



Pittsburgh and Allegheny 



Wholesale Druggists. 

The^^holesale drug business of Pittsburgh is carried ou by nine distinctive 
drug houses. They are 



Firm. 


Office. 


Estab'd. 


By. 


Geo. A. Kelly, ... 


21 Wood St. . . 


1829 


B. A. Fahnestock. 


Mackeown,Thompson&Co. 195 Liberty st. . 


1825 


John Hanlon. 


R. E. Sellers & Co. . 


45 Wood St. . 


1835 


Shinn,Seller3& Wilson 


B. L. Fahnestock & Co. 


Wood street. 


1.829 


B. A. Fahnestock. 


J. Henderson k Bro. 


266 Liberty st. . 


1841 


W. Henderson. 


Harris & Ewing, . . 


341 Liberty st. . 


1867 


Harris & Ewing. 


W. T. Jones & Co. . . 


292 Liberty st. . 


— 






W. H. Brill & Co. . 
H. P. Schwartz. . . 


Lacock^ Federal. 
113 Federal st. , 











These employ about 104 hands, whose wages will average about $79,000 and 
the average sales per year aggregate |1, 260, 000. 

Proprietary Medicines. 

While many of the wholesale druggist establishments have special prepara- 
tions of greater or less note, which are usually classed under the head of patent 
medicines, there are only four distinct establishments, whose business is solely 
that of preparing and sale of what is termed proprietary medicines, being special 
medicinal compounds to which the attention of the firm is solely given, without at- 
tention to other branches of drug business. To the growths of this division to the 
business of Pittsburgh and Allegheny are as illustrative of the growth of the 
city as that of other branches. 

The oldest exclusive proprietary medicine firm among these houses is that of 
Fleming Bros., engaged solely in the preparation and sale of M'Lane's Cele- 
brated Vermifuge and Liver Pills, These standard preparations were estab- 
lished in 1834 by the wholesale drug house of Holmes & Kidd, from which 
the firm of Fleming Bros, is the lineal successor. The present firm employ 30 
hands, whose wages will amount to $15,000. Their sales have grown from a few 
dozen boxes and vials of the preparations in 1835 to the amount of over one and 
a half millions of vials and boxes. 

The oldest proprietary medicine is that of B. A. Fahnestock's Vermifuge, the 
preparation of which was established in 182T by B, A. Fahnestock, and now 
prepared and sold by J. E. Schwartz & Co., which firm is the direct successors 
of the drug house of B. A. Fahnestock k Co. This firm employ 10 hands, whose 
wages amount to $6,000. 

Hostetter's Bitters are another standard medicinal compound, whose world- 
wide notoriety has familiarized the name of Pittsburgh in all quarters of the 
earth as the place of its production. These bitters are prepared by the firm of 
Hostetter & Smith, by whom they were established in 1853. The buildings used 



In the Centennial Year, 241 

in the various branches of their business occupy a space of 110x160, and there 
there are employed 150 hands, whose wages amount to $100,000 yearly. The 
gross sales of the preparation have reached |1, 000, 000 a year. The firm employ 
in their printing 15 steam presses, and use 17,000 reams of paper in the printing 
of their circulars. They issue nine million almanacs a year, in nine different 
languages. 

California Herb Bitters is another distinctive proprietary medicine prepared 
by J. J. Speck & Co. This compound was established in 1868 by Dierker & 
Speck, and at present the firm use 35,000 bottles in putting up the preparation 
^nd some three tons of certain California herbs. 

Seven Seals or Golden Wonder 

Is the rather .melo-dramatic title of another special medicine, which has, in its 
rapid progress so far, earned its right to the latter half of its title. This pro- 
prietary medicine was established in 1869 by R. M. Kennedy, and is prepared by 
the present firm of Kennedy & Co., corner Second avenue and Wood stre^. The 
building used in the preparation of the medicine is four stories high, 120x30 
feet, being equal to 480x120 feet. The original proprietor began the business 
with but forty-two dollars in capital, and the sales last year reached $125,000; 
and 32 hands, whose wages are about $11,000 a year, and 60,000 bottles are used. 
There are quite a number of medical preparations put up by the various drug 
houses, but their statistics are embraced in those of the drug business. The 
amount of sales of these five proprietary medicines will aggregate $1,250,000 
The hands employed are 232, and the wages aggregate $132,000. 

Wholesale Clothing and Piece Goods. 
The manufacturing of clothing is very largely carried on by three firms, who 
do an exclusively wholesale trade. They are 

Firm. Office. Estab'd. By. 

J. Klee & Co., ... 80 Wood St., 1850 Klee & Kaufman. 

Kaufman & Oppenheimer, 233 Liberty St., 1864 Klee, Kaufman & Co. 

Bierman, Heidelberg & Co., 220 Liberty St., — 

These firms employ 450 hands, whose wages will amount to $220,000 a year. 
The sales of the three firms will average about $800,000. 

Hats, Caps and Furs. 
There are three firms who wholesale the above description of goods: 
Firm. Office. Establ'd. By. 

McCord Sc Co. . . . 131 Wood st. . . 1798 Robt. Peebles. 
R.H. Palmer (Limited) 153 Wood st. . . 1839 R. H. Palmer. 
Fleming & Oglevee. . 139 Wood st. . . 1860 Wm Fleming. 

They employ 27 hands, whose wages will average about $16,000, and the 
sales will amount to $250,000. 
16 



242 Pittsburgh and Allegheny 



Glass Jobbers and Dealers. 

This is a class of business distinct from the manufacturing houses. Therer 
are three firms who make jobbing in glass a distinctive business. They are : 

Firm. Office. Establ'd- 

Atlantic Glass Co. 136 First street 1868 

Gallinger & Co 145 First avenue. . . . . . 1867 

Union Glass Co 17 Market street 1869 

These three houses handle 1,296,000 chimneys, 504,000 fruit jars, about 
10,000 packages of tumblers and table-ware in a year, beside window glass. 
Their entire sales are about |300,000. 

Lamp, Glass-Ware and Carbon Oil Jobbers. 
There are four firms whose exclusive business is dealing in the above goods. 
They are 

Firm. Office. Estab'd. By. 

R. P. Wallace k Co. . 39 Wood st. . . 1850 J. C. Kirkpatrick & Co. 

J. P. Sukith, Son & Co. 189 Liberty st. . 1862 J. P. Smith k Co. 

Cavitt & Pollock, . . 311 Liberty st. . 1862 Wallace, Cavitt k Co. 

F. G. Craighead, . . . 300 Liberty st. . 1874 P. G. Craighead. 

These four firms employ 40 hands, whose wages will amount to $40,000 a 
year, and their sales to $350,000. In this, as in several other classes of busi- 
ness, there are a number of establishments who do a large retail business. 

China, Glass and Queensware. 
There are six firms engaged in the importation and wholesaleing of the above 
kinds of articles. They employ 30 hands, whose wages will average $18,000 a 
year, and their sales average $300,000. 

The Grocery Trade. 

The general tenor of the remarks upon the various branches of the mercan- 
tile business, is applicable to this division of the commerce of Pittsburgh. There 
is no advantage in purchasing East over buying here, and on articles in this line 
of business the freights create sufficient difference to give this city the prefer- 
ence. The upward movements going on in the other branches of the wholesale 
trade is also decidedly perceptible in this. This branch of our commerce was 
injured by the railroads bringing this city so near in time of travel to the East; 
but reaction has commenced, and we believe, from the same reasons given in the 
commencement of this chapter for a large increase in the general jobbing busi- 
ness, that the grocery trade of this city will also become yearly heavier and 
more important. 

Groceries are so staple and without fashion, that the market where they are 
purchased is of no weight; it is the small percentages that decide the purchase. 
Our wholesale houses have all the advantages of the eastern houses, and the 



In the Centennial Year. 



243 



buyer here makes the savings of freights. Upon this branch of trade the im- 
provement of the Ohiq river will work great benefits, in the opening of the river 
markets through cheap freights to western dealers. There are twenty-one firms 
doing a strictly 



& Metzgar. 



Firm. 

Arbuckles & Co. 

C. Atwell & Co. 

Carter Bros. & Co. 

Wm. C. Cooper 

Currj 

Dilworth Bros , 

J. S. Dilworth & Co. 

P. Duff & Son. 

S. Ewart & Co. 

Haworth k Dewhurst 

T. C. Jenkins 

Johnson, Eagye, Earl & Co. 

Allen, Kirkpatrick & Co 

Knox & Orr. . . . 

Means, Sweeney k Co. 

M. W. Rankin k Bro. 

Schoonmaker k Co. . 

B. H. Voskamp k Co. 

A. Wallace 

Watt, Lang k Co. . . 
John Wilson k Son. . 
Jesse H. Lippincott k Co 



Wholesale Grocery Business. 

Office. 



244 Liberty St. . 
131 Second av. 
259 Liberty St. . 
115 Liberty st. . 
329 Liberty St. . 
243 Liberty st. . 
130 Second av. 
11th st&Pennav 
289 Liberty St. . 
251 Liberty st. . 
174 Wood St. . 
120 Second av. 
271 Liberty st. . 
268 Liberty st. . 

Second av. 

lOSmithfieldst. 
52 Seventh av. 
243 Liberty St. . 
6 Sixth av. . . 
337 Liberty st. . 
297 Liberty st. . 



tabl'd. 


By. 


1818 


Malcolm Leech. 


1855 


Atwell, Lee k Ca. 


1867 


Carter Bros, k Co^ 


1838 


Cooper k Young. 


1872 


Curry k Metzgar.. 


1870 


Dilworth Bros. 


1864 


J. S. Dilworth k Co. 


— 


P. Duff k Son. 


1860 


S. Ewart. 


1868 


Haworth k Dewhurst. 


1862 


T. C. Jenkins. 


1853 


Kirkpatrick k Herron. 


1865 


Knox k Orr. 


1840 


Cosgrave, Wick k Co. 


1856 


M. W. Rankin & Co. 


1862 


Seghmeyer k Yoskamp 


1846 


Lambert k Shipton. 


1860 


Shoemaker k Lang. | \ 


1849 


Watt k Wilson. 



231 Liberty St. . 

These twenty-one firms employ 190 hands, whose wages will average $130,000, 
and their sales amount to an average of $10,250,000. Among other items they 
sell about 40,000 sacks of coffee, 12,000 hogsheads of molasses, 15,000 barrels of 
syrups, 40,000 barrels and 2,000 hogsheads of sugar, and 12,000 chests of tea. 



There are eight firms 

Firm. 

F. Sellers & Co. . . 
J. P. Hanna, . 
E. H. Meyers k Co. . 
Rea, Hill & Co. . . 
Reese Owens k Co. . 
Walker, Dunlevy k Bro 
Wm. B. Hays k Co. . 
J. L. Dunseath k Co. 



Pork Packers and Dealers. 
pursuing this branch of business: 



Office. 


Estab'd. 


By. 


331 Penn av. . 


1842 


F. Sellers. 


161 Liberty st. . 


1854 


J. P. Hanna k Co. 


217 Liberty St. . 


1857 


Meyers k McDevitt. 


303 Liberty st. . 


1873 


Rea, Hill k Kerr. 


21 Seventh av. 


— 


Reese Owens k Co. 


23 Seventh av. 


— 


Walker,Cooper k Co 


217 Liberty st. . 


1850 


Hussey k Hays. 


301 Liberty st. . . 


— 





244 



Pittsburgh and Allegheny 



The value of this trade is about $2,500,000, but complete statistics could not 
be obtained. 

Manufacturing Confectionaries. 

There are five firms engaged in this branch of business, and also in the whole- 
saling of foreign fruits and fancy groceries. 



Firm. 


Office. 


Estab'd. 


By. 


Reymer Bros 


126 Wood St. . 


1853 


Joshua Rhodes. 


P. H. Hunker, . . . . 


98 Wood St. . . 


1838 


J. J. Hunker & Co. 


Kramer & Yogelson, 


1*79 Liberty St. . 


1867 


Kramer & Bond. 


Chas. Maginn, .... 


183 Liberty st. . 


1875 


Chas. Maginn. 


C. L. Flacus, .... 


262 Liberty st. . 


1873 


Flacus & Newingham. 


These five firms employ 49 hands, whose wages will amount to $26,000; and 


their sales of all descriptions of goods will average $460,000. 


Rag and Paper Stock Dealers 


. 


There are six firms in the city who make 


a distinctive business of purchas- 


ing, sorting and selling rags and paper stock. 


They are 




Firm. 


Office. 


EstabM. 


By. 


McCullough, Smith & Co 


Penn av. and Tth 


1838 


H. McCullough & Co. 


Joseph Benedict, . . 


48 Wylie av. . 


1862 


S. Goldsmith. 


Jas. Harrison, . . . 


102 Second ave 


1861 


McElroy & Harrison. 


McElroy & Co. . . . 


80 Third ave. 


1850 


McElroy & Co. 


Jas. Peters, .... 


Third avenue. 


1876 


J. Peters. 


Ed. Metzgar, .... 


Third avenue. 


1876 


Ed. Metzgar. 



These employ 90 hands, whose wages amount to $30,400 annually; and 
their business amounts to $330,000 annually. 

Books and Stationery. 
There are ten firms that transact a legitimate book business, combining 
wholesaling and retailing. They are 

Office. 

101 Wood street. . 
Wood St. & 5th av. 
115 Wood street. . 
127 Fifth avenue. . 
163 Wood street. . 
129 Smithfield st. . 

102 Fourth avenue. 
198 Penn avenue. . 

on. 55 Ninth street. 
Meth. Board of Publicat'n. 132 Fifth avenue. . 

These ten firms employ 60 hands, whose wages will average about $36,000 a 
year; and their sales amount to about $860,000. 



Firm. 
J. R. Weldin & Co., . 
R. S. Davis, . . . 
S. A. Clarke & Co., . 
Jas. B. Dodge & Bro. 
Pitts. Book & News Co 
Joseph Horner, 
J. L. Reed & Sons, . 
W. W. Watters, . . 
U. P. Board of Publicat 



Estab'd. 


By. 


1852 


J. R. Weldin. 


— 


R. S. Davis. 


1869 


S. A. Clarke. 


— 


Jas. B. Dodge. 


1851 


W. A. Gildenfenney. 



















In the Centennial Year. 



245 



In addition to these there is one other firm, A. H. English & Co., 98 Fourth 
avenue, who are engaged in the publication of their own series of school books, 
whose sales and employees are not included in the foregoing figures of the book 
trade. In addition there are several wholly retail firms. 

There are several firms engaged in the stationery business, exclusive o^ 
books, viz: 

*Myers, Schoyer & Co., 145 Wood st. ^S. Reed Johnston & Co., 178 Wood st. 
*W. G-. Johnston k Co., 59 Wood st. ^Stevenson & Foster, 3d av. and Wood. 

These four firms employ in the stationery business 20 hands, and their sales 
amount to |200,000. 

There is one firm who make a speciality of Printers' Materials, A. C. Bake- 
well & Co., 75 Wood street, the sales of which amount to |150,000. 

Iron Commission Houses. 
There are nine firms in the city whose direct business is the sale of pig metal 
on commission. The following table, quoted from the Pittsburgh CommerciaVs 
report for 1875, of the reoeipts of metal at Pittsburgh, shows the receipts of ore, 
pig metal, scrap and muck bar for three years. Also the total of those firms of 
iron for 1871-2: 

1873. 

Pig metal, tons, 297,133 

Ore, tons, 320,842 

Scrap, muck, &c., . • 12,209 

Totals, • 

Total for 1872 



631,182 



1874. 

259,611 

255,317 

20,990 

533,918 



1875. 
173,842 
175,596 

61,166 

410,504 



496,648 

Total for 1871-, 367,207 

The make of pig metal at the Pittsburgh furnaces would be in addition to 
those figures. The subject of Pittsburgh as an iron centrue is so fully presented 
in other chapters of this volume, that it would be but a repetition of facts and 
figures to further here make mention of the trade. 

The firms engaged in the handling of pig metal on commission in Pittsburgh, are 



Firm. 
Caughey & Hailman. 

A. H. Childs. . . 

Loomis & Collard. 

John Moorhead. 

P. D. Nichols. . 

Nimick & Co. . 

Josiah Reamer. 

Wistar Rodman. 

J. W. Porter. . 



Establ'd- 



By. 



Office. 
113 Water st. . 

135 Wood St. . 

81 Fourth av. . 

Water & Market sts 

67 Fourth av. . 

96 Water st. 

91 Wood St. 

99 Water st. 

— Water st. 

Of the amount of metal sold hj these firms no complete statistics could be 

obtained, and in their absence the value of this trade is compulsorily omitted. 



1845 


R. C. Loomis. 


1846 


King & Moorhead. 


1814 


Allen & Grant. 



1856 



J. W. Porter, 



*In coQnection with job priuting and binding, the statistics to which are not included. 



246 Pittsburgh and Allegheny 



CHAPTER XXIII 



THE PRODUCE BUSINESS. 



The value of the produce business of the city of Pittsburgh has been for sev- 
eral years past steadily on the increase, but is not as yet what the position of the 
city should obtain. There is no better point for the holding of grain for the 
advantages of the eastern and foreign markets. The western rivers and rail- 
ways afford admirable facilities for the concentration of grain or other produce 
at this point; while the three admirable routes for shipment, at short notice and 
in quick time, to the sea-board is shown in the chapter on the railway system of 
Pittsburgh. Grain can be held in storage at Pittsburgh within eighteen or 
twenty hours of three eastern cities, and thus be able to catch at once a rising 
market, on telegraphic advice, even when the advance is of a brief holding. 
Whereas, stored at Chicago, or any other of the western grain centres, the op- 
portunity to benefit by a temporary advance would be lost, before in the longer 
transportation, the grain could reach the market. Grain held at Pittsburgh, 
from the admirable facilities to reach the three chief grain markets of the coast 
in a few hours time, places the cerals held in Pittsburgh almost on an equality 
in taking quick advantage of a sudden advance with those stored in the eastern 
warehouses. With the improvement of the Ohio river as contemplated, the 
cheapening of freights consequent upon that increased facility will build up at 
Pittsburgh a large produce trade based on this very facility of quick shipment 
to the eastern markets, and cause grain held for a rise to be largely handled and 
stored here, to wait an advance, instead of at more remote western points. Even 
with railroad shipping facilities alone, it is quite possible tha,t, under the advan- 
tages of Pittsburgh as a grain depot, the produce trade of the city would have 
grown with a greater rapidity if it had not been that discrimination in freights 
has retarded progress, and deterred business ability, enterprise and capital from 
locating where such restrictions to the active competitions of trade exist. From 
whatever reasons such discrimination exists, or by what cause they are created, 
they have none the less '^ slowed" the advance of Pittsburgh's produce trade, 
whose increase under restrictions only shows the natural strength of the city as 
a produce centre. At the present time the produce trade may be divided into 
three classes. Those dealing in grain and hay; those handling flour, and those 
selling on commission, general produce of all kinds. 



In the Centennial Year, 



247 



The Grain and Hay Dkalbrs 

Are embraced in twenty-five firms, who do chiefly an elevator and car delivery 

business, selling to the retail and jobbing trade at Pittsburgh or shipping to 

eastern markets. These firms are : 

Firm. 

•bt. Dickey & Co. . . 11 Wa 

jBane & Anger. . . . 141 W; 

tchcock,M'Creery&Co 349 Lil 

& W. Fairley, ... 415 Lii 

B. Floyd & Co. . . . 417 Lil 

G. Graff & Co. . . . 347 Lil 

3. Graham 366 Lil 

. J. Meek 73 Wa 

Duff k Sons. ... 124 Se 

il k Richart. ... 349 Li 

;Henry k Hood. . . . 365 Li 

ng k McKallip. . . 347 Li 

Gisal 380 Pe 

F. Herron & Co. . . 415 Li 
mes Alexander. . . 415 Li 
uck, McCague k Co. . 325 Lil 

G. Miller 328 Lil 

G. Stewart 357 Lil 

J. McCracken & Bro. 28 Smi 

irman k Henderson. . Wood < 

H. Nantker k Son. . 147 Fii 

Hottng k Son. ... 119 W 

bn Rose 415 Lil 

A. Duff. 415 Lil 

— Kerr First a^ 

These houses handled in 1875 340,000 bushels of wheat, 261,000 bushels of 
corn, 57,000 bushels of rye, 32,000 bushels of barley, 730,000 bushels of oats, 
10,000 tons of hay. In addition to this, there were 283,000 bushels of oats han- 
dled by other commission houses dealing in general produce; also 117,000 
bushels of corn and 3,000 tons of hay. 

The following table"^ shows the receipts by river and rail for the past five 
years of the five leading articles of produce. It will be noticed that there is a 
falling off in 1875 from 1874. How much of this is due to the economies of the 
hard times, how much to freight discriminations, or to other causes, is not here 
to be considered, nor are the facts that will satisfactorily explain to be arrived 
at. 



Firm. 
Robt. Dickey k Co. . 

McBane k Anger. . . 


Office. 
77 Water st. . 

141 Water st. . 


Establ'd. 
1832 

1853 


By. 

Isaiah Dickey. 

A. k A. McBane. 


Hitchcock, M'Creery&C( 
J. k W. Fairley, . . 
S. B. Floyd & Co. . . 
L. G. Graff & Co. . . 


) 349 Liberty st. . 
415 Liberty st. . 
417 Liberty st. . 
347 Liberty st. . 


1856 
1856 
1859 
1850 


Huffman, M'Creery&Co 
J. k W. Fairley. 
S. B. Floyd k Co. 
L. G. Graff. 


Jas. Graham. . 


366 Liberty st. . 


1862 


Jas. Graham. 


W. J. Meek 


73 Water st. 


1864 


W. J. Meek. 


P. Duff k Sons. . . 


124 Seventh av. 


1864 


P. Duff k Sons. 


Keil k Richart. . . 


349 Liberty st. . 


1865 


Keil k Richart. 


McHenry k Hood. . . 
Lang & McKallip. 
M. Gisal 


365 Liberty st. . 
347 Liberty st. . 
380 Penn av. . 


1866 
1866 
1867 


S. L. McHenry. 
Henderson k Lang. 
Scott k Gisal. 


M. F. Herron k Co. . 


415 Liberty st. . 


1867 


Robb k Herron. 


James Alexander. 


415 Liberty st. . 


1872 


Jas Alexander. 


flouck, McCague k Co. 


325 Liberty st. . 


1873 


Houck, Jamison k Co. 


W. G. Miller. . . . 
D. G. Stewart 


328 Liberty st. . 
357 Libeny st. . 


1872 


D. G. Stewart. 


H. J. McCracken k Bro 


28Smithfieldst. 


— 


H. J. McCracken k Bro. 


Fairman k Henderson. 


Wood k Water sts 


1873 


Fairman k Henderson. 


W. H. Nantker k Son. . 


147 First av. 


1873 


W. H. Nantker k Co. 


C. Hottng k Son. . . 

John Rose 

J. A. Duff. 

Kerr 


119 Water st. . 
415 Liberty st. . 
415 Liberty st. . 
First av near Wood 


1874 
1870 


C. Hottng k Son. 
Briggs k Kerr. 



♦Compiled from the trade report of the Pittsburgh Oymmercial'for 1875. 



248 



Pittsburgh and Allegheny 





1871. 


1872. 


1873. 


1874. 


1875. 




BUSH. 


BUSH. 


BUSH. 


BUSH. 


BUSH. 


Wheat, . . . 


. . 630,560 


534,535 


571,042 


712,268 


374,762' 


Corn, . . . 


. . 540,928 


619,562 


435,228 


537,564 


352,03^ 


Oats, . . . 


. . 839,497 


973,117 


1,364,582 


1,627,046 


958,589- 


Rye, . . . 


. .. 169,618 


134,597 


162,645 


139,347 


76,691 


Barley, . . . 


. . 366,142 


260,960 


492,455 


426,442 


316,834 


Hay, . . . 








16,000 tons.. 



Flour Trade and Firms. 

There are six firms dealing in flour, and doing but little in grains. These 

firms are 

Office. 
157 Liberty st. . 
853 Liberty st. . 
467 Liberty st. . 
255 Liberty st. . 
174 Wood St. . 
370 Penn ave. . 

There are several of the grocery houses who also handle some flour, and 
the amount of transactions of the above six houses, together with that sold by 
the grocery houses shows sales ot 319,000 barrels. 

According to the Commercial^ whose totals in wheat, corn, oats, barley and 
rye we have quoted, the receipts of flour at Pittsburgh, exclusive of that made- 
here, was : 

1871 . 237,302 bbls. 1874 467,176 '' 

1872 313,382 '' 

1873 . . . . . . . 346,605 " 



Firm. 

S. Lindsay, Jr. & Co 
Dan'l. Wallace, . . 
Roberts & Steel, . . 
F. W. Jenkins & Bro., 
T. C. Jenkins, . . 
F. H. Seghmeyer, . 



Estab'd. 


By. 


1831 


S. Lindsay. 


1852 


Wallace & Gardiner. 


1862- 


M. Steel & Son. 


1866 


T. C. Jenkins & Bro. 


1865 


T. C. Jenkins & Bro. 


1872 


F. H. Seghmeyer. 



1875 399,608 " 



General Produce Commission Trade. 

In the past ten years there has grown up in the cit}^ of Pittsburgh a class of busi- 
ness firms known as produce commission houses, whose locality is almost entirely 
on Liberty street, extending from Sixth to Eleventh street. In each of the vary- 
ing seasons, spring, summer, autumn and winter, that section of the city is a 
curiosity to visit. A quarter of a mile of most interesting comniercial locality. 
The products of the earth seem, in their season, to be gathered thereto. The 
golden orange and bananna, and fragrant pine apple of the tropics, in their 
season. Deer and partridge, prairie fowl and wild duck, turkey and chicken in 
the fall and winter months; and the year round cranberries, apples, pears, 
sweet potatoes, peaches, dried fruits, eggs, beans, butter, onions, and, in fact, 
about all the edible products of the earth, from Canada to Florida, from Connec- 
ticut to Minnesota, crowd the pavements and fill the warehouses along that 
interesting quarter of a mile of trade. There are fourteen firms wJio make dealing: 
in this class of produce their especial business, viz: 



In the Centennial Year. 



249 



Firm. 
Aiken, Wallace & Pollock 
A. Bricker & Son. 
H. M. Caldwell & Co 
Caskej, Beaty & Co. 
Ed. Fox & Co. . . 
Head, Carson & Co. 
J. A. Grajff & Son. 
Jas. H. Loh & Co. 
Geo. L. Peabody & Co. 
Henry Rea, Jr. . . . 
Yoight, Mahood & Co. 
Van Gorder & Shephard 
John White, Jr., & Son. 
Wibert & Wallace. . 



Office. 
185 Liberty st. . 
199 Liberty st. . 
205 Liberty st. . 
167 Liberty st. . 
201 Liberty st. . 
249 Liberty st. . 
223 Liberty st. . 
203 Liberty st. . 
325 Liberty st. . 
305 Liberty st. . 
257 Liberty st. . 
351 Liberty st. . 
361 Liberty st. . 



iStab'd. 
1870 


By. 

Aiken, Wal'ce&Pollock 


1863 


A. Bricker & Son. 


1872 


Morrow & Caldwell. 


1859 


H. Riddle. 


1872 


Ed. Fox & Co. 


1859 
1863 


Head & Metzgar. 
J. A. Graff. 


1870 


Loh, Son k Co. 


1875 


Geo. L. Peabody & Co. 


1862 


Rea & Keil. 


1860 
1857 


L. H. Voight & Co. 
F. Van Gorder. 


1857 


White Bros. 


1870 


Wm. H. Graff. 



187 Liberty st. . 

The sales of these firms are entirely made on commission, and will amount 
as near as can be ascertained to nearly |3, 000, 000. Among other articles they 
disposed of in 1875 was 110,000 barrels of apples, 213,550 boxes of peaches, 
1,455 car loads of potatoes, 38,000 barrels of cranberries, $44,000 worth fresh 
strawberries, 18,000 barrels of onions, 16,000 barrels of sweet potatoes, 1,747,500 
dozen of eggs, 1,595,000 pounds of butter, 111,000 gallons of apple butter, 9,000 
barrels of beans, 200,000 pounds of poultry, 10,000 bushels of timothy and 6,000 
bushels of clover seed, 283,000 bushels of oats and 3,000 tons of hay. These 
few articles are enumerated more to give an idea of the peculiar kind of produce 
business transacted by this class of houses, than to present a moiety of the 
varied and sometimes almost inconceivable articles of the garden, the orchard, 
the forest, the stream or the field, which they handle. They employ about 80- 
hands and pay $50,000 of wages annually. 



Dealers in Live Stock. 

The facilities of the Pittsburgh railway system have in the past few years 
created a very heavy business at Pittsburgh in live stock. There are thirteen 
firms now engaged exclusively in this business, whose places of business are all 
located at the stock yards of the Pennsylvania Railroad, in the 21st Ward (East 
Liberty). The following table shows these firms, the date of their establishment, 
and the stock they handle. 

These firms employ 64 hands whose wages amount to $64,660, and the amount 
of their sales, as shown by their books, is $33,980,000. ; several of these firms 
transacting a business from two to five millions of dollars each. The transpor- 
tation of this stock requires about 700 cars per week, the usual loading being 
18 cattle, 175 sheep, and 100 hogs to a car, and it would require 112 miles of 
cars to load the live stock sold at Pittsburgh. About two-thirds of this stock 



250 



Pittsburgh and Allegheny 



is sold to the New York market, and the balance disposed of at Pittsburgh, 
Philadelphia and other points. 



Style of Firm. 



Holmes, Lafferty, \ 
Glass & Co. j 
J. F. Sadler & Co. . . 
Hamilton, Loughry & Co 
Briggs, Docks & Dunn. 
Yoetter & Brainard, . 
Donley, McNabb & Co. 
Cochran, Hesket & Co. 
H. G. Imhoff & Co. . 
M. H. Gillett & Co. . 
S. B. Hedges & Co. . 
Allerton k Wilson, 
Halstead & Co. . . . 
Aull & Varner, . 



Established By. 



Holmes, Lafferty, ) 
Glass & Co. J 
Sadler & Havens, . . 
Hamilton, Loughry & Co 
Smith, Watson & Briggs 
Julius Yoetter, . . . 
Smith & Donley, . . 
Cochran, Hesket & Co. 
H. G. Imhoff & Co. . 
Messenger, Gillett & Co. 
Hedges & Taylor, . . 
Faber & Allerton, . . 
E. W. Faber, .... 
Aull & Yarner, . . . 



Date 


Cattle. 


Sheep. 


1864 

1871 
1874 
1870 
1863 
1874 
1875 
1866 
1864 
1868 
1873 
1874 
1875 


42,000 

21,600 
30,000 
30,000 

21,600 
3,000 

28,800 

10,000 


120,000 

84,000 
144,000 
^144,000 

96,000 
36,000 

96,000 





Hogs. 



216,000 

54,000 

96,000 

96,000 

150,000 

72,000 

60,000 

85,000 

92,543 

144,000 

125,000 

50,000 



There is also a large rending establishment connected with this business, 
carried on by E. Hoover & Co., established in 1866, whose product is |75,000 
yearl}^, employing 6 hands. 



In the Centennial Year, 251 



CHAPTER XXIV. 



FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS. 



The first bank opened for the transaction of business in Pittsburgh was in 
1804, being a branch of the Bank of Pennsylvania. It began business on the 
first of January, in a stone building on the east side of Second avenue, between 
Market and Ferry streets. The building was destroyed by the great fire of 1845. 
The second bank, and perhaps justly to be styled the first bank at Pittsburgh, 
as it was organized here and its capital supplied by Pittsburgh merchants, was 
the Pittsburgh Manufacturing Company, which began business in 1810. It had 
no charter at that time, but in 1814 was merged into the present Bank of Pitts- 
burgh, which was the first regularly chartered and organized bank in Pittsburgh. 
As such, a brief sketch of its early progress is in harmony with the treatment 
pursued, as far as data permitted, with all the other divisions of the city's busi- 
ness. 

The Bank of Pittsburgh was chartered in 1813-14, and organized for busi- 
ness on November 22, 1814. with the following board of directors: Wm. Wilkins, 
George Anshutz. Jr., Thomas Cromwell, Nicholas Cunningham, John Darragh, 
William Hays, Wm. M'Candless, James Morrison, John M. Snowden, Craig 
Ritchie, George Allison, James Brown and J. P. Skelton. On the 28th of No- 
vember, 1814, Wm. Wilkins was chosen president, and Alexander Johnstone, Jr. 
cashier of the bank. The capital of the bank was nominally at this time $600,- 
000 ; of this only ^250,000 had been paid up to 1833, which in 1834 was increased 
to $1,200,000. Mr. Wilkins was succeeded in the presidency by John Darragh, 
who was followed by John McDonald, and he by Wm. H. Denny, who, in April, 
1835, was succeeded by John Graham. In 1866 Mr. Graham was succeeded in 
the presidency by John Harper, who entered the bank in 1832 as chief clerk, 
which position he retained until 1850, when he became assistant cashier; and on 
John Snyder's resignation in 1857, cashier, and on the retiring of Mr. Graham 
in 1866, president, as above stated. This oflfice he still fills, after forty-four years 
of continuous service in the same institution, nearly three-fourths of the bank's 
existence, having filled all the OjSicial grades from clerk to president, being 
to-day the oldest bank ofiicer in continuous service in the city. The leading 
policy of the Bank of Pittsburgh has been to consider its liabilities at all times, 
payable in specie, and to adhere to the avowed object of the " Pittsburgh Manu- 
facturing Company," from whence it proceeded, to foster the manufacturing in- 
terest of Pittsburgh. It is claimed that in no instance has the bank coerced a 
a loan in a time of financial difficulty. 



M 



252 Pittsburgh and Allegheny 

The general impression prevails that the Bank of Pittsburgh never sus- 
pended specie payment. This is not precisely the fact. In 1837 they suspended 
at the general request of citizens, expressed at a large public meeting, but the 
suspension was only brief, as after a few days specie was paid in special cases 
to small amounts, and the bank soon resumed full specie payment. In the gen- 
eral suspensions of 1839 the bank continued to pay specie on all its liabilities, 
and in the suspension of 1841, by the banks of the whole country south and 
west of New York, the bank continued as before to pay in specie. In the great 
crisis of 1857 the Bank of Pittsburgh still continued its policy of paying coin 
for its liabilities, and in 1861 the bank again resolved to pay specie on its every 
liability, and in carrying out that resolve paid, from December 30, 1861, to De- 
cember 1, 1866, in gold $1,374,938.99. 

The bank declared its first dividend of four per cent, the first Tuesday of 
May, 1815, having paid six dividends previously as the ''Pittsburgh Manufactur- 
ing Co.," and has paid regular dividends on the first days of May and Novem- 
ber ever since, being one hundred and twenty-two dividends which have aver- 
aged eight 44-100 per cent. In the coming November of 1876, the bank will have 
attained an age of sixty-three years, having passed through the depressions of 
three wars, and five suspensions of specie payments by the banks of the coun- 
try without ever faltering in its original policy. 

The third bank organized in the city was " The Merchants and Manufac- 
turers Bank." This bank was organized in the old Exchange Hotel, in 1833, 
when Michael Tiernan was elected its first president, who was succeeded on 
April 1st, 1845 by Thomas Scott, who, in 1857, was followed by H. L. BoUman, 
and he was succeeded by Robert H. Hartley, on whose death, October 23, 1875, 
Wm. Rea, who had been a director for sixteen years, was chosen president. 

The Exchange Bank op Pittsburgh was the next organized bank, it having 
been chartered in 1836, when Wm. Robinson was elected its first president 
He served until 1851, when he was succeeded by Thos. M. Howe in 1852, who had 
previously been the cashier of the bank from 1839, having succeeded Mr. Forster, 
the first cashier. Mr. Howe, on his retiring from the presidency, continued as 
director up to the present time, being thirty-seven years continuous connection 
with the bank in an official capacity. Mr. Howe was succeeded in the presidency 
by James B. Murray who had succeeded Mr. Howe in the cashiership. John H. 
Shoenberger, the present president, succeeding Mr. J. B. Murray, and Andrew 
Long, the present cashier, succeeding H. M. Murray, who was cashier after J. B. 
Murray. 

In 1833 there was chartered the Pittsburgh Saving Fund Company, which 
was in 1843 re-chartered as the Farmers Deposit Bank of Pittsburgh, under 
which title it continued until it became a national bank, under the same title 
with the addition of the word National. The dividends of this bank from its 
organization until 1855 averaged from 10 to 12 per cent., and in 1856 a dividend 
of 26 per cent, was paid. It is a singular fact, interesting to state in this brief 



In the Centennial Year. 253 

« ___^_^^_____^____^^___^— __^^.^______^^^_^_^^_^___ — 

sketch of the earlier banks of the city, that from 1833 to 1857, the loss of this 
bank in its whole amount of discounts was not one hundred dollars. 

In 1853 the Citizei^s Deposit Company was organized as a chartered com- 
pany, with a capital of ^200,000. Oliver Blackburn being chosen the first pres- 
ident and E. D. Jones cashier. In 1857 the name was changed by act of Legis- 
lature to the Citizens Bank and privilege given to issue notes. In 1864 the 
bank became a national bank, Francis Sellers being its first president, and suc- 
ceeded by Geo. A. Berry, the present president, in 1865. 

In July, 1852, the Pittsburgh Trust Company was chartered and organized 
simply as a bank of discount and deposit, with a paid up capital of |200,000, 
which was increased to $1,200,000. On the organization of the company, James 
Laughlin was chosen president, which position he still fills, being next to John 
Harper, of the Bank of Pittsburgh, the oldest bank president in continuous service 
in the city. John D. Scully was at the same time elected cashier, which office 
he still fills, and is the oldest bank cashier in continuous service in the City. In 
1863 the company was chartered as a national bank, without change of ofiicers. 

In 1855 the Mechanics Bank was organized with a capital of |500,000, being 
the sixth bank established in Pittsburgh. Rueben Miller, Jr., was chosen its 
first president, and Geo. D. McGrew its first cashier. Mr. Miller was succeeded 
in 1858, in the presidency, by Wm. B. Holmes, the present president, who has 
been eighteen years in ofiice. 

Such is the brief exhibit of the organization of the earlier banks of the city. 
In 1857 there were but six chartered banks of discount, issue and deposit, and 
the entire banking capital did not reach quite $4,000,000. In 1876 there are 
72 banks of all classes, as will be seen from the tables which follow. 

These banks may be divided into four clases: The national banks, of which 
there are 28; the State banks, of which there are 12; the individual liability 
banks, of which there are 8; and the savings banks, of which there are 24. 

This latter class are next in number to the national banks, and are them- 
selves properly to be sub-divided into two classes : First, Those loaning on mort- 
gages alone; and Second^ Those loaning their funds on all satisfactory securities. 
The growth of savings banks is one that tells much for the prosperity of the 
mechanical population of the city. Until 1855 there was no savings bank in 
Pittsburgh, — at which date was organized the 

Dollar Savings Bank. 
As the first institution of this class, it is proper that a brief sketch of its origin 
should have a place in these pages. This bank, which is now by far the largest 
financial institution of the city, was originated in June, 1854, by Chas. A. ColtoD, 
the present treasurer of the bank, which position he has held from its organiza- 
tion. The project was received with little favor at first, and it was only through 
Mr. Colton's energy and persistence that the institution was chartered and 
organized. The following extract from a communication written by Mr. Colton, 
tells graphically the story of its early days : 



254 Pittsburgh and Allegheny 

'^ We organized June, 1855: elected a president; lie declined — had no faith. 
I told him that if I lived ten years I would have more deposits than the capital 
of the Bank of Pittsburgh, at which he laughed heartily. Tried three others 
belore we found one that would accept. Opened for business July 19th, 1855, 
and with an advertisement in nine daily papers and thirty-nine good names as 
trustees, and my youngest son with two dollars to start the bank. The first and 
second day we took about $50 in deposits from the trustees — made to please me. 
They had no faith, and some of them would call daily to see how I got along, 
saying, 'Where is your bank?' Looking at the few dollars on the counter, they 
would ask: 'Is that your bank? You must be crazy; you had better shut up 
and go to work on the railroad,' &c. I must confess that it went very hard, 
much worse than I had expected; not a person called sometimes for a whole 
day, and no receipts for two daj^s. Two months had passed before I had any 
thing to invest or the first cent was placed to interest account; many persons 
would call two or three times to talk about per cent, and security before risking*^ 
three or four dollars. One of our most sanguine trustees thought if I succeeded 
in getting |25,000 the first ;^ear I would get a long. I speak of myself only in 
the getting up this bank for this reason, that what others did was without any 
real interest in the thing, but done only to please me ; and in getting a quorum 
of six out of thirty-nine at monthly meetings of the board I had to talk to these 
members for two or three days beforehand as I met them, and then have to 
send my son around before there could be any business done; and for the first 
year or more, the Investing Committee did not meet at all, or very seldom — but 
the investments were made by one person, who had little faith, but did it to 
please me, and at the end of the month I would make out the statement of 
investments, and he would get them all five to sign, many of whom never came 
to the bank except, perhaps, once or twice to the monthly meetings, as the 
books will show. In starting without any capital, we had necessarily to run in 
debt for books, fitting up room, &c., and Judge Hepburn asked 'What security 
have I that my man will get his money back if I send him here to deposit $5?' 
I said that if the thing did not succeed in three months, I supposed the trustees 
would contribute $10 each, which would raise $390, and close it up and pay 
back the money to the depositors. He moved that the trustees give a bond for 
$100 each, which Mr. Umbstaetter drew up, and which only twenty-three signed. 
At this time I told the Judge it was bound to succeed, and for three years and 
eight months I did all the work myself, many a time taking the assets in my 
pocket to step out for a moment; but the latter part of this time it was very 
tedious, a thing that I would not do again for any amount of money. I was 
seldom out door from nine to three. I would have to wait on deposits at 
the counter and talk to those who wanted to borrow on mortgage at the end of 
it, alternately; and in the gent^ral suspension in September, 1857, the cash on 
hand was only about $1,500, yet we had assets enough to pay all in full. And 
now I would say that this is the only Provident Saving Institution in the world, 
so far as I know, that has paid six per cent, from the start." 

Mr. Colton's narrative tells the whole story of the origination and founding 
of this institution. In contrast with this the present statement of the bank is 
vivid. There are now 10,387 depositors who have in the bank $4,691,620.34. This 
statement of deposits tells its own story of not only the success of the institu- 
tion, but also of the great good it must have wrought in creating a system of 
saving in the community. Geo. Albree was the president of the bank from its 
start until September 10, 1869, when on retiring from personal reasons, James 



In the Centennial Year. 255 



Herdman was selected to succeed him, and is the present president, Chas. A. 
Colton having continued the treasurer from the beginning; and the present*^ 
secretary, J. B. D. Meeds, having been in office from January 16, 1865. The 
money of the depositors is invested in first mortgages, and the bank had on the 
1st of June, 1876, $3,112,284.93 so invested. 

The Pittsburgh Bank for Savings was the second of the institutions estab- 
lished. It was originally incorporated as the ^' Dime Savings Institution," in 
1862. Its first president was James Park, jr., and D. McKinley its first treasurer. 
The present president is Geo. A. Berry, who succeeded James Park in 1865 ; and 
Chas. G. Milnor is the present treasurer, having succeeded Mr. McKinley on his 
resignation in May, 1876. The same year the Real Estate Savings Bank was 
chartered, Isaac Jones being its first president, and still continuing in that office. 

There is in Pittsburgh one Safe Deposit Co., organized for the safe keeping 
of papers, bonds or other valuables. It was chartered in January, 1867, with a 
capital of $250,000, and opened September 1st, 1869, Wm. Phillips being the 
first president, who, on his death, was succeeded by Henry Lloyd, the present 
president. The first secretary and treasurer was S. F. Von Bonnhorst, who was 
succeeded by William Little in 1874. The company, by their charter, are per- 
mitted, besides providing for the safe keeping of valuables, to act as trustees of 
estates, guardians of orphans, transfer and interest agents of bonds and stocks, 
and fill other fiduciary capacities of a like nature. 

There are but five Private Banking Houses. They transact all such business 
as usually pertains to such financial business ; receiving deposits subject to 
check or on time certificates, buying and selling stocks, investing funds, making 
collections in other cities, and transacting all other details of a general banking 
business. The firms are : 

N. Holmes & Sons. . 57 Market street, . . 1826 N. Holmes. 

R. Patrick & Co. . . 52 Fifth avenue, . . 1850 Patrick & Friend. 

Robinson & Bros. . . 78 Fourth avenue, . 1864 Robinson Bros. 

Semple & Jones, . . 80 Fourth avenue, . 1859 Semple & Jones. 

T. Mellon & Son,' . . 116 Smithfield street, 1870 T. Mellon & Son. 

The following tables exhibit the classification of the National, State^ and 
Individual Banks, with their capital and other details of their financial standing. 



256 



Pittsburgh and Allegheny 



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c3 o o5 
Eh M piH 






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STOVE WAREHOUSE OP A. BRADLEY & OO, 



In the Centennial Year, 



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In the Centennial Year, 



259 



Table No. 2* of National Banks, showing : 



Capital. 

Allegheny, 500,000 

Citizens, 800,000 

City, 200,000 

Diamond, 200,000 

Duquesne, ....... 200,000-^"^ 

Exchange, 1,700,000 

Farmers Deposit, .... 300,000 

Filth, 100,000 

First 750,000 

First of Allegheny, . . . 350,000 

First of Birmingham,! . . 

Fourth, 300,000 

German of Allegheny, . . 200,000 

German, 250,000 

Iron (Jity, 400,000 

Marine, • . 200,000 

-Mechanics, " 500,000 

Merchants and Manufacturers, 800,000 

Metropolitan, 200,000 

Peoples, 1,000,000 

Pitts. Nat. B'k of Commerce, 500,000 

Second, 300,000 

Second of Allegheny, . . 150,000 

Smithfield, 200,000 

Third, 500,000 

Third of Allegheny, . . . 200,000 

Tradesmens, 400,000 

Union 250,000 





Dividends since 


Av. Deposit 


Surplus 


Organization. 


Past 5 yrs. 


160,000 


856,897 


900,000 


170,598 


1,084,500 


575,677 


4,188 


44,000 


250,000 


4,000 


65,325 


400,000 


1,000 


79,156 


105,000 


340,000 


l,881,000t+ 


1,019,732 


420,000 


441,000 


1,115,509 


15,Q0O 


10,000 


160,000 


114,285 


1,006,750 


1,900.000 


130,000 


488,500 


759,800 


27,069 


346,000 




4,000|1 


8,000 


550,000 


156,000 


588,293i 


650.000 


320,000 


815,000 


700,000 


1,500 


8,000 


130,000 


300,000 


1,240,0901[ 




280.000 


2,605,000 


700,000 


7,135 


t 


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150,000 


960,000 


540,400 


133,000 


580,000 


750,000 


60,000 


316,500?^ 


450,000 


82,000 


190,500 


350,000 


10,000 


50,000ff 


250,000 


145,000 


651.000 


630,000 


12,000 


12,000 


280,000 


100,000 


432,000 


1,000,000 


200,000 


297,500 


664,500 



Table No. 2* of Individual Banks, showing: 

Av. deposits 
Name. Capital. Surplus. Dividends. past 5 years. 

American, |200,000 $142,000 $300,000 

Central, 100,000 26,000 96,000 — — 

Diamond Savings, of Allegh'y 90,000 — 42,365 200,000 

Fifth Avenue, 100.000 13,500 51,500 171,000 

Fort Pitt, 197,500 -^^— 166,875 

Girard Savings, . .... 100,000 8,000 Spercent. 80,000 

Market, 100,000 5,000 20,000 

Nation Bank for Savings, . 100,000 16,068 62,515 

gglncluding 52,500 paid as Iron City Trust Co. *See Table No. 1 for years in existence. 

**Original capital $100,000. fKefused to give information. 

^Including dividends while German Trust and Savings Bank. ^Information refused. 

llOnly since a National Bank. ^$355,000 dividends as a State Bank. 

fflncluding Dividends while Wylie Avenue Savings Bank. 

JJStock dividend of 50 per cent, from surplus previous to organization as National Bank. 

t 



260 



Pittsburgh and Allegheny 



Table No. 2"^' of State Banks, showing: 

Av. deposits 

Name. Capital, Surplus. Dividends. past b years. 

Bank of Pittsburgh, . . . ^1,200,000 };240,000 $4,496,000 $831,616 

Arsenal, 50,000 12,000 25,000 180,000 

Bank of Industry, . . . : 100,000 26,241 65,000 

Artisan Deposit, .... 300,000 4,800 76,395 169,347 

City Deposit, 100,000 

Liberty Improvement Bank, . 100,000 5,582 120,000 

Farm. &Mech. of Birmingham 160,000 22,000 72,000 150,000 

Masonic • . 200,000 25,0!)0 114,000 425,000 

Lawrence, 80,000 30,000f 72,898^ 300,000 

Penn, -250,000 5,000 • 62,681 375,000 

Shoe and Leather, .... 200,000 43,891 150,000 

United States. ..... 100,000 6,000 Three div'd 85,000 



Table No. 2» of Savings Banks, showing: 

/ Dividends since Av deposits 

Name. Capital. Surplus. organization. past 5 years. 

Anchor, $100,000 $5,000 4 paid. $90,000 

Allegheny, ? 

Dollar, 1,979,907-5^^ 3,842,421 

Enterprise, of Allegheny, . 100,000 26.901 f 

Franklin, 200,000+ 

Freehold, 200,000 ' 10,000 104,000 500,000 

German, of Birmingham, . 88,000 7,000 31,928 180,000 

Germania, 150,000 — — 592,252 

Iron and Glass, 100,000 5,000 55,000 145,000 

Manchester, § 

Monongahela, 100,000 1,800 16,972|| 106,000 

Odd Fellows, 120,000 10.000 30,733 

Peoples, 300,000 65,000 581,160 

Peoples, of Allegheny, . . 100,000 18,500 53,183 175,000 

Pittsburgh Savings, ... 300,000 27,000 127,018 400,000 

Pittsburgh Bank for Savings 75,000 88,156 576,000 

Real Estate, ...... 90,510 396,322^-* 641,276 

Real Estate, Loan & Trust Co. § — =•_ 

South Side, 200,000 . 57,253 166,500 

Union, 75,000 4,000 16,819 80,000 

United, ^200,000 9.000 30,000 175,000 

West End, 100,0001J 

Woods Run, 150,000* 4,158 10,272 41,000 

Workingmens, 50,000 50,000 33,500 275,000 

^Refused information. information as to surplus and dividends refused. 

II An average of $150,000 deposits, on which 3 per cent, is paid. 

**Intere3t dividends declared to depositors. 

t|.Paid in $52,000 ; payable in weekly installments. fNot given. 

^] Made while a savings bank previous to 1876. *See table No. 1 for years in existence. 



In the Centennial Year, 261 



CHAPTER XXV. 



THE PRESS OF PITTSBURGH. 



On the 29th of July, 1786, the first newpaper west of the Allegheny moun- 
tains was issued in the little village of five hundred inhabitants and forty-three 
houses and stores, clustered around Fort Pitt ; which in 1876, ninety years after, 
has as the community of Pittsburgh a population of 225,000, and occupies 
thirty-four square miles of territory. In 1786 there were no mail facilities ; in 
1876 one hundred and seventy passenger trains arrive and leave daily on ten 
different lines of railroad. With this growth has become established thirty daily, 
weekly and monthly publications. Eleven of these are daily newspapers, eight 
of which are English and three German papers. The Pittsburgh Gazette is the 
oldest of these, being the journal established in 1786. The chain of succession 
in its various proprietorships these pages afford no space to present. It is now 
published by King, Heed & Co., and consistent to its political record, is to-day a 
decided Republican journal, enjoying the confidence of the public as a commer- 
cial and general newspaper, as well as a partisan sheet. Its circulation, which 
is locallj^ large, is also widely established. In the scattering of families to divers 
sections, household attachment to the time honored family paper has rendered 
it necessary in their distant homes. From the same cause the Weekly Gazette 
has also a wide and large circulation. 

In the interval between the establishment of the Gazette and that which is 
the next oldest surviving paper, many brave ventures on the treacherous sea of 
newspaper life were launched ; "but scattered wrecks lie thickly on the strand." 
Among those hurried in the sands of time lies the Advocate; wont to do 
famous battle with N. B. Craig, and bearing many a wound from his trenchant 
pen. Further along is the Commercial Journal^ which sailed so gallantly and grace- 
fully under the guidance of Robert M. Riddle, and fought many a brave round 
for the old Whig cause with .its fierce antagonist, the Democratic Post^ which 
" still lives." Near the Commercial Journal lies another of its old time com- 
batants, the American; "Jim Riddle's" staunch and bitter paper, which, never 
deserting for a day th,e old Whig cause, or the principle of protection to Ameri- 
can industry, clung to its hatreds and dislikes as valiantly; unforgiving to the end. 

These, and scores of others, with all their hopes and ambitions, are but the 
memories of a past newspaper world, with its mail coach dependencies for news, 
its limited circulations, and its ponderous "leaders." The Gazette reaching back 
to 1786, from 1876, represents in its files all the changes in newspaper conducting, 
from the "slow old coach" to the teleofranhic aore. 



7- 



262 Pittsburgh and Allegheny 

The Evening Chronicle, which is the second in age of the present existing 
papers, was established in 1841, by R. G. Berford, as a morning paper. It is in- 
dependent in politics, and is now published by Joseph G. Seibeneck, who has 
been connected with the paper since 1858, and became an owner there'in in 1864. 
It was at one time owned by Jas P. Barr, now of the Daily Post, and was changed 
to an evening paper in 1848; since when it has been a prosperous business en- 
terprise ; having a circulation, which varying with the excitements of the hour, 
averages, it is claimed, from 8 to 10,000 copies daily. Its weekly, originally 
called the Iron Citij, but which title was dropped years ago, has also a large 
circulation, going to 1,500 Post Offices. 

vT The Daily Post is the third in point of age in the city. It was started in 
1842 by Phillips & Smith, originating from the union of two weekly papers, the 
Mercury and the American Manufacturer. The first paper issued in Allegheny 
county, pretending to be a democratic sheet, was the Commonwealth^ published 
weekly by Ephriam Pentland. Of this paper the Post is the lineal successor, 
though of the changes twixt then and now, however interesting, this little volume 
can spare no space for record. The paper is now published by James P. Barr 
& Co. The senior of the firm, Mr. Barr, began his newspaper life as an apprentice 
in the office of the American Manufacturer in 1841, and set the first stick full of 
type and pulled the first sheets of the Daily Post at its birth in 1842, and is 
the oldest newspaper publisher in the city now in the business. The Post has 
be«n a successful journal, being the only democratic daily in western Pennsylvania. 

The Dispatch is the fourth in point of age of the daily newspapers of Pitts- 
burgh, and the first in point of business and circulation. It was established in 
1846 by the late Col. J. H. Foster, and for several years was published as a penny 
J^ paper. In 1865 the price was increased from six to fifteen cents a week, and 
since then it has been thrice enlarged, so that it is now one of the largest, as it 
is one of the most prosperous, papers in the United States. The Dispatch is 
independent republican in politics, has a bona fide circulation of over fourteen 
thousand, and is owned and published by Messrs. O'Neill k Rook, who have had 
charge of its management for the last eleven years. The Weekly Dispatch was 
established in 1853, and is the same size as the Daily — 29x44 inches, — its circu- 
lation being about eight thousand. 

The Commercial comes next in years, having been established in 1864 by a 
combination of business men of the city as a stock company, under the title of 
the Commercial Publishing Co. It is decidedly and uncompromisingly repub- 
lican in its political character. It is also specially and largely commercial in its 
matter and editorial conduct, and has, as such, a large circulation, as has its 
flourishing weekly. The two papers are still published by the romraercial 
Publishing Company, allhough the control of the stock has changed hands 

The Evening Mail, published in Allegheny city, is the next in age, having 
been originated as a morning penny paper. 




PITTSBURa-H DISPATCH BUILDINr^ 




g 



P4 



* In the Centennial Year, 263 

The Evening Leader, established on October 18th, 1870, by Pittock, Nevin 
& Co., is the next in date. This journal is the out-growth of the success of the 
Sunday Leader which was established in December, 1864, by John W. Pittock? 
who afterwards associated with him R. P., John I. and E. H. Nevin, Jr., who 
with Mr. Pittock continue in ownership of both the Sunday and Evening Leader, 
conducted under the style of the Leader Publishing Co. The circulation of the 
•Sunday Leader, varying with the excitements of the day, ranges from fifteen to 
sixteen thousand copies, and that of the daily from twelve to fourteen thousand. 
Both papers are decidedly independent in character. 

Of three daily German papers, the Freiheits Freund is the oldest, having 
'been esta))lished in 1834 by Henry Ruby at Hhanibersburg, Franklin Co. Pa., 
but was removed in 1837 to Pittsburgh by Victor Scriba, its then owner. The 
present proprietors are L. k W. Neeb, who began their publishing life as 
apprentices, in 1836, in the office of the paper. Lewis Neeb became a partner 
in the publication in 1848, and Wm. Xeeb purchasing Mr. Scriba's interest in 
1850. The journal was originally neutral, but in the Fremont campaign joined 
the republican forces where it has remained ever since. The paper has a large 
daily circulation of about 9,000, and a flourishing weekly besides. 

The Evening Telegraph is the latest of the daily papers established. It 
was firsL issued in 1873, and is published by a joint stock company. It has a 
good and growing circulation and is independent in its character. 

The VoLKSBLATT is a daily and weekly independent journal, established in 
1839, by Bauer & Lcew, and now published by C. F. Bauer, and claims a cir- 
<iulation of 2,000 copies daily, and 1,800 weekly. 

The Republicaner is next in age. It was established in 1854, by a society 
•of Germans, and is still published by the same company as a daily and weekly 
Democratic journal; having a circulation, of its daily, of about 2,000 copies, 
mostly in the city; and of its weekly of 3,600. 

There are five principal weekly denominational religious- papers ; the oldest is 
the Presbyterian Banner, which was established in July, 1814, at Chilo- 
>cothe, Ohio, by the Rev. John Andrews. The office of publication was removed 
to Pittsburgh about 1819. Since June, 1864, it has been issued by James Allison k 
Co., the present publisljcis. It has a circulation of 12,500 copies. 

The Methodist Recorder is the next in age, being a continuation of the 
Mutual Rights, established at Baltimore in 1828, which was afterwards merged into 
the Methodist Correspondent^ which became the Methodist Recorder in 1839 ; be- 
ing then published during five years at Meadow Farm, Ohio, by the Rev. Corne- 
lius Springer. In 1844, the place of publication was removed to Putnam, now 
one of the wards of the city of Zanesville, where it was issued until 1854, when 
it was removed to Springfield, Ohio, where it was published until 1871, and then 
removed to Pittsburgh, where it is published by the Methodist Board of Publica- 
tion, by whom it was purchased in 1854 from the Rev. A. H. Basset, who had 
vbeen the proprietor from 1844. The journal has a circulation of 7,000 copies. 



264 Pittsburgh and Allegheny 

The Pittsburgh Christan Advocate, the next in age, was established iii' 
1833, at Pittsburgh, by the Rev. Chas. Elliott, D. D. It is Methodist Episcopal 
in its denominational character, and its circulation is 12,500 copies. 

The United Presbyterian is the next in age, having been established at 
Pittsburgh in 1842 by the Rev. J. P. Pressly, D. D. It is now published by 
H. J. Murdoch &; Co., and has a circulation of over 15,000 copies. 

The Catholic was established in 1846 by P. F. Boylan, who was succeeded 
in the proprietorship in 1847 by Jacob Porter, the present publisher. It is the 
official organ of the Diocese of Pittsburgh, Allegheny and Erie, and has a circu- 
■\ lation of 4,000 copies. 

The American Manufacturer, which is published weekly, is the only paper 
of its class in the city, which is that of a manufacturing and metal journal. It 
is published by a joint stock company, and is the out-growth of the Trade of the 
West, established by Frank Woods in 1854, by whom the journal is conducted. 

Y Wasg is a weekly paper published in the Welsh language, established Ib 
1873. 

The Job Printing Business 

Is largely carried on and is among the oldest in the city. This business, as a 
distinct profession, was originally started by Butler & Lamdin about 1810. The 
material was brought across the mountains on pack-mules ; and an old Ramage 
press, which was part of the original outfit of the office, was, until a short time 
since, in existence in Butler Co. and is probably there yet. In 1825 Mr. Butler 
removed the office to Ravenna. Ohio, his partner Mr. Lamdin having died. In 
1827 Mr. Butler returned with his office to Pittsburgh, and the office of A. A. 
Anderson & Son, at which this volume is printed, is the direct continuation of 
it, some of the old material being still in its composing rooms. The senior- 
partner of the present firm, A. A. Anderson, began his apprenticeship to the 
printing business in the office in Ravenna on the 8th day of August, 1825, and 
has been in continuous service as boy, journeyman and proprietor ever since, a 
period of almost fifty-one years, and is to-day the oldest job printer in business 
in the city, and the office is semi-centennial in its history. In 1816 Eichbaum & 
Johnston established a printing office from which three others of the principal 
job printing firms of the city have sprung. That of Stevenson & Foster is the 
direct succession of W. S. Haven, who succeeded Johnston & Stockton, who 
were the successors of Eichbaum & Johnston. The firm of Wm. G-. Johnston & 
Co., the partners of which are the sons of the Eichbaum & Johnston, of 1816, 
and S. Reed Johnston & Co., which firm is an out-growth of Wm. G. Johnston 
& Co., and the Mr. Johnston a son of the Samuel R. Johnston of 1816. There 
are thirty job printing offices in the city who employ about 175 hands and pay 
about $75,000 a year in wages. 



In the Centennial Year, 265 



CHAPTER XXVI. 



BENEVOLENT INSTITUTIONS OF PITTSBURGH AND ALLEGHENY. 



In the prosperity that Pittsburgh has enjoyed, her heart has not been har- 
dened to the needs of the unfortunate. In the absorptions of business, the 
building of costly bank edifices, the erection of huge furnaces and extensive 
workshops, her people have not forgotten the needy, nor the din of her machin- 
ery or the thunder of her hammers deadened her ear to the cry of the sick and 
distressed. In addition to many minor charities there are 15 prominent benevo- 
lent institutions in Pittsburgh and Allegheny. Chief among these, from its 
magnitude, as well as from its imposing and complete buildings for the Insane, 
is the Western Pennsylvania Hospital. This magnificent charity originated 
on the 9th day of March, 1847, when a number of the citizens formed themselves 
into an association for the purpose of founding an hospital for the reception 
and cure of the "insane and afflicted, as well as the sick, helpless and infirm.'^ 
The charter was approved the 18th day of March, 1848. A generous donation 
of twenty-four acres of land, in the now Twelfth Ward of the City of Pitts- 
burgh, by Mrs. Elizabeth Denny and Mrs. Mary Schenley, enabled the managers 
to at once proceed with the erection of the hospital building, which was opened 
in January, 1853. 

Primarily designed as a hospital for persons receiving accidental injuries in the 
manufactories of Pittsburgh, only temporary arrangements were made for the 
insane, but in the first year twenty-four insane persons were admitted, of whom 
seventeen were entirely restored to sanity. Under an increasing demand upon 
the hospital for the treatment of insane persons the facts were laid before the 
Legislature, and on May 8, 1855, a supplementary act was passed appropriating 
ten thousand dollars to aid in extending the accommodations. On the 19th of 
March, 1856, a further supplement was approved, granting a further sum of 
twenty thousand dollars for additional buildings. As the institution increased 
in the number of its insane inmates the managers determined to erect a separate 
building beyond the limits of the city. A selection was made of a farm on the 
right bank of the Ohio, seven miles below the city. Additional land was sub- 
sequently purchased and the property now embraces three hundred and twenty 
acres, accessable by river or rail. The domain was named " Dixmont " in honor of 
Miss D. L. Dix. The location is an admirable one. At the base of an abrupt 
wooded cliff, the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railway extends 2800 
feet, along the property. From the base of this cliff orchard, garden and pasture 



266 Pittsburgh and Allegheny 

land rises to a summit of four hundred and fifty feet, crowned with forest trees. 
Midway up the slope stands an imposing structure, from whence an extensive 
and picturesque prospect is obtained. The entire edifice, grounds and appur- 
tenances have cost $700,000. The buildings, furnishing and appurtenances of 
the Twelfth Ward Hospital building adds to this sum $100,000, being about 
$800,000 in all without the Twelfth Ward grounds, which is valued at about 
$200,000. 

The buildings were open November 11, 1861, and a few days after 113 patients 
were removed from the hospital buildings in the Twelfth ward, and the institution 
began its ofl&ce of humanity. At the outbreak of the civil war, the managers of 
the Western Pennsylvania Hospital tendered the use of the Twelfth Ward Hos- 
pital building to the government. It was accepted and placed in charge of gov- 
ernment officers. Nearly one thousand sick and wounded soldiers were accom- 
modated in the building and temporary outside arrangement. The tender of 
this costly property to the government was without expectation of remuneration, 
and none has ever been asked. By means of a fund received from a sanitary fair, 
mentioned in the chapter on the military record of Pittsburgh, the institution 
still remains open for the care of disabled volunteers. It is also still open for 
surgical and medical uses to the public as a general hospital, having a full staff 
of surgeons and physicians, with a thorough and complete corps of superin- 
tendents and nurses and other assistants. Further mention of this noble public 
charity is restricted by the limits of the volume, which has already much over- 
run its proposed pages. 

The Pittsburgh Infirmary, corner of Roberts and Reed streets, is another 
institution for the sick and suffering. It is to a great extent the results of the 
personal exertions of Rev. W. A. Passavant. It was established in January, 1848, 
and chartered by the State in 1850, and has accommodations for forty-five 
patients. Indigent persons are admitted gratuitously, the object being to relieve 
the indigent sick, without reference to color, creed or country. 

The Homeopathic Hospital, situated on Second avenue, is another of this 
class of charities that the liberality of the citizens of Pittsburgh has called into 
useful existence. As its name indicates, it is in charge of a particular school of 
medicine. It was chartered in 1866. Patients are admitted without distinction 
of race or religion. A full medical and surgical staff are attached, who render 
gratuitous service. 

The Mercy Hospital is a fourth benevolent institution of this class. It is in 
charge of the Sisters of Mercy, and was chartered in 1848. Patients are ad- 
mitted without distinction of race or creed. Those whose circumstances will 
admit, are required to pay a small sum — all others admitted free. 

There are several ^' Homes," so-called, for various various classes of persons. 
The Home for the Friendlsss, No. 32 Washington street, was organized May 1, 
1861, and chartered January 4, 1862. Its object is to receive and provide for 
every child in distress, and to receive children whose mothers, depending upon 



In the Centennial Year. 267 

their labors for support, are unable to extend to their children that care which 
their tender years require. The institution was organized and is managed by 
the benevolent ladies of all denominations in the city. 

Allegheny Widow's Home is another institution organized and managed by 
benevolent ladies ot Pittsburgh and Allegheny, and is designed as a refuge and 
a home for indigent widows. 

Home for Aged Protestant Women. — This Home is designed for such 
aged Protestant women as in the closing years of life find themselves bereft of 
means and relations and destitute of a home, yet not wholly unable, either 
through the kindness of friends or from some little pittance left from former 
competency to contribute somewhat to their own support. It was organized 
June 10, 1869, under the auspices of the Women's Christian Association of 
Pittsburgh, and was chartered by the State as an independent institution 25th 
March, 1871. The buildings occupied a site of five acres, donated by James 
Kelly, at Wilkinsburgh, adjoining the city line. The Home is one hundred feet 
long, forty feet wide, three stories high ; built of brick. About $35,000 have 
been expended in its erection. It is under charge of a Board, of exclusively lady 
managers, to whose personal exertions its successful establishment and main- 
tenance is due. 

The Home for Destitute Women is another benevolent institution, origi- 
nating within the workings of the Women's Christian Association of Pittsburgh. 
It is designed and used as a temporary refuge for destitute women, and has 
been in existence for eight years. 

Boarding Home for W^orking Women is another benevolent institution 
which has grown from the active spirit of the Women's Christian Association 
of Pittsburgh. Its title indicates its object. It was organized on November 2, 
1870. The buildings cost $17,500. 

The Sheltering Arms is a reformatory institution, which also owes its ex- 
istence to the efforts of the Women's Christian Association of Pittsburgh. Its 
objects are to throw a sheltering arm around those young girls, who deceived 
and betrayed, would abandon themselves to a vicious life, and also to reclaim 
such women as, having strayed from the habits of a correct and virtuous life, 
desire to abandon evil ways. Attached to this institution is an " Hospital for 
Incurahles^^ where women in destitute circumstances, suffering from dropsy, 
consumption or like incurable diseases may find care and attention. A 
further object being to furnish to such women as have sought its protection in 
their shame, or as a help in their efforts to reform, employment in the care of 
the sick ; whereby not only the influence of the suffering they thus daily sef> 
and help to alleviate, may impress their minds to the purifying of their lives, but 
give thera the opportunity to acquire a profession that will enable them to eaxn 
a sufficient livelihood, and regain their own self-respect in the consciousness of 
well-doing, and laboring in an honorable if humble profession. 



268 Pittsburgh and Allegheny 

The institution occupies a site in Wilkinsburg of five acres, donated by- 
James Kelly. The buildings were dedicated in October, 1872, and when fully 
completed, will cost about $40,000. At present only one wing is built, which 
cost, with the furnishing, $20,337. The institution is under the charge of a 
board of ladies. 

Home of Industry. — This is an institution under charge of the Sisters of 
Mercy, its object being to afford shelter to poor and friendless girls in the city 
and aid them in procuring situations. 

Home of the Little Sisters of the Poor, is also a home under charge of 
the Sisters of Mercy, and is designed for the care of the aged of both sexes. 

Orphan Asylums. — Of these there are three. Two under the charge of 
the Sisters of Mercy, and one under the benevolent ladies of both cities: the 
details of which the limits of this volume restrains mention. It is thus of 
many other benevolent associations that exist in the city, and carry their good 
works and the light of their christian labors into the dark places that exist in 
all great cities. In their organization, their labors, and all the details of their 
work and existence, pages would be occupied. Greatly as the preceding pages 
show that the Iron City has grown in wealth, in manufacturing, and all the 
accompaniments of a thriving business center, yet christian charity has walked 
hand in hand with, and strengthened with her strength and spread with her 
increase. Where in 1784 it was stated there did not exist either church nor 
chapel, nor priest of any persuasion, there are now eleven Baptist churches^ 
forty-seven Roman Catholic churches and chapels, forty-five Presbyterian, forty- 
four Methodists, twelve Episcopalian, twenty Lutheran churches, three Jewish 
synagogues, one Universalist, two Congregational, one Swedenborgian church, 
and six of various other denominations, being in all one hundred and ninety- 
two churches. There are also thirty-fivfe Masonic, seventy-eight Odd Fellows, 
eleven .Red Men, thirty-seven Knights of Pythias, and twenty-one United 
Workingmen lodges, being one hundred and eighty-two secret benevolent asso- 
ciations in these five Orders, with half as many more in less prominent and 
known Orders. Forty-six public schools and a High School, spread intelligence 
among the growing generations of the mass of busy people who populate the 
two cities. 



There is in the foregoing exhibit of Pittsburgh and Allegheny in the Cen- 
tennial year much which might have been perhaps more fully and better 
presented. The attainment of statistical information is, under the most favorable 
circumstances, a labor of vexations and perplexities, and beset with many 
liabilities to error. In a reticent city like Pittsburgh such impediments are mul- 
tiplied. Much as has been said of the. Birmingham of America, much remains 
unsaid from the difficulty of obtaining and delay in giving the information 



In the Centennial Year. 269 

necessary, and also by that which has already been presented greatly OTerrun- 
ning the propose.-i limit within which it was expected the story of the growth of 
Pittsburgh ayd Allegheny cities, and their business, could be told. The area 
occupied by the two cities is equal to thirty-four square miles, or 22,000 acres, ex- 
tending up the Allegheny river five miles, and up the Monongahela river about 
eight miles, and down the Ohio river about three miles. The distance between 
the rivers is about five miles. This in its bulk of territory, is what is popularly 
and generally known as Pittsburgh, and its population in 1876 is about 225,000. 
It has 400 miles of streets, and the two rivers are spanned by eleven bridges, 
whose aggregate length is about three and a half miles. 

Throughout all these miles of streets are scattered the factories, the furnaces, 
the mills, and workshops, which have originated for Pittsburgh the sobriquet of 
the Birmingham of America. What those establishments are in detail is gener- 
ally shown in the preceding pages; what they aggregate in bulk is best shown 
by stating that if they were placed in a compact form they would form a body 
or would occupy a space of 1,867 acres, or extend 77 miles, giving each an aver- 
age space of 200 by 200 feet. 

The packages in which the glass produced in her factories is packed, if placed 
in compact shape in a row six feet high by three broad, would extend over ninety 
miles each year, and the straw used to pack it would need 2,000 acres of ground 
to grow it on annuall3^ 

The barges and tow boats used to transport her yearly product of coal taken 
out of the Monongahela river alone, would, if placed in a continuous line, form 
a walk of fifty miles, while to transport the whole product of her mines by rail 
would require over 3,000 miles of cars, each holding ten tons. The lumber used 
in her sash, door and box factories and planing mills, would build a board walk 
each 3^ear ten feet broad and one thousand miles long. 

The wages annually paid in the factories and collieries would require one man 
4,133 hours, or 172 days, to count it in single dollars, at the rate of 120 a minute, 
and would pave with silver half dollars a street 40 feet wide and one mile long. 
These figures present, in perhaps a somewhat fanciful shape, some of the indica- 
tions that determine the magnitude of the city, and convey, in connection with 
the statement made of the area of the city, what Pittsburgh is in bulk. 

In her growth, Pittsburgh is a practical proof of the enrichment that the 
development of the resources of a nation creates among its people. The mate- 
rial which have kept her thousands of workmen busy in the past years, and 
built up the city that the foregoing pages show, would still be resting in the 
mountain's side and sleeping in the valleys breast, but for the principle of 
protection to American industries, from which the city of Pittsburgh, and simi- 
lar developments over the country, has proceeded. The effects of this as an el- 
ement of national strength was apparent during the late war, when, among other 
items of defense, the armor plates of the Ironsides and other ships to amount of 
over 2,000 tons were made at Pittsburgh by the Wayne Iron Works, and the 



270 Pittsburgh and Allegheny 

stoppers, weighing 10,000 pounds each, for the port holes of the iron clads built 
by Capt. Eads, at St. Louis, were made at the same mill. As free trade is often 
proposed as a remedy for the idle masses of men, whose failur^ during the 
past two or three years to earn wages is at the bottom of a great proportion of 
the dullness of trade, this volume cannot better conclude than by the presenta- 
tion of some few figures showing how many laborers find employment in 
the production of one only of Pittsburgh's staples. The United States produced 
in 1873, among other forms of iron, 2,290,658 tons pig iron, 721, Y75 tons of iront 
rails, 980,000 tons rolled iron of other kinds. 

To manufacture the 2,290,658 tons of pig metal requires two and a quarter 
tons of coal to each ton of pig, or 5,153,980 tons of coal. The 721,775 tons of 
iron rail takes 1,443,550 tons, and the 980,000 tons of rolled iron 2,352,000 tons, 
or in all 8,935,530 tons of coal. At a royalty of one-half cent per bushel the 
owner of the coal receives $1,249,974. The proprietor of the collery, who mar- 
kets the coal, benefitting to the extent of one cent per bushel over his working 
expense, receives $2,449,948. Eighty-four cents per ton is a fair average of coal 
miners' wages, and at this rate, $7,499,844 is the sum the miners obtain. 

Two tons of ore is the amount accepted as requisite to produce a tons of pig 
iron. It will then require 4,581,316 tons of ore to produce the 2,290,658 tons of 
pig made in 1873. Estimating the average cost of mining at one dollar and a 
half a ton, we have $6,871,974 as the sum the ore miners alone obtain. To 
produce the amount of pig our figures give as the product of 1873, requires 
over two hundred and fifty such furnaces running full time. Here is an expen- 
diture of over twenty-five millions of money. The average labor to produce a 
ton of pig iron from the ore being one man to each ton made, this would require 
7,633 men working three hundred days each. The average wages of men em- 
ployed about each furnace is $720 each, making a total of $5,504,835.00. 

The labor of 43,040 men would be required to manufacture the 1,701,775 tons 
of rail and roll iron made in 1873. The average wages of the mill hands is $750 
each. Over $32,250,000 is thus distributed. The entire distribution of wages for 
the mere items of ore, coal, furnaces, building and labor in the production of a 
similar weight of iron as in 1873, in the United States, is nearly $130,000,000» 
Of this, Pittsburgh pays one-fifteenth in the distribution of wages in her fur- 
naces and rolling mills, to say nothing of the amount to those who work the iron 
her mills produce into forms and condition beyond the simple pig and bar. 

The entire wages paid in the manufactories of Pittsburgh are over $30,000,000 
annually; and the capital in the buildings and machinery of her factories alone, 
and the ground they occupy, is, as nearly as could be arrived at, $43,216,955. 

Pittsburgh is the tangable proof of the results of the development of Ameri- 
can industry and American resources. The hum of her streets, the noise of her 
hammers, the shout of the escaping steam, the roar of her furnaces, and the 
cheerful sounds of thousands of busy men calling to their comrades in the 
necessary orders of their employment, continually intones Protection's Hymn — 



In the Centennial Year. 271 



"^Protection! that the trowel's cheerful clink, 

The joyous sound of busy plane and saw, 
The engine's puft', the jar of carter's wheel, 

Be not the land's exception, but its law, 
That year on year the furnace 'mid the hills 

Bid from the ore the iron sparkling run ; 
And farmers whistle as they count their gains 

From crops yet ripening in the summer sun. 

Let not again the mountain echoes sleep, 

Where now the furnace roar disturbs their rest; 
Nor yet, again, the pick slow rusting leave 

Rich mineral hidden in the earth's rough breast; 
Nor grass, now banished by the workmen's feet, 

Around the forge thick springing widely spread; 
Nor where the factory's spindles humming twirl 

The spider silent spin his silken thread. 

In lusty strength will Labor then rejoice. 

Nor like a wounded giant starving die ; 
O'er villages, by rivers nestled down. 

The factory's towering smoke obscure the sky. 
Then Plenty '11 still the laborer's cottage bless, 

The strong mechanic's home with comforts fill, 
Enrich the farmer 'mid his fields and flocks, 

The mealy miller in his dusty mill. 

Still 'mid the mountains let the furnace roar, 

Sing the deep bass of Labour's holy hymn ; 
The ringing anvil, hum of toil, tell how 

Protection gives the workmen's sinews vim. 
Still through our factories' long and windowed rooms 

Let fair girls tend their looms with busy feet; 
So shall the nation strengthen by its arts. 

While Plenty dances to the hammer's beat. 

Let sunny France's dark-eyed daughters use 

The shining silks her subtle looms prepare ; 
Let England, with her skillful woven stuffs. 

Make all her graceful daughters yet more fair, 
And forge her iron into guns and swords 

To aid her drums around the world to beat ; 
We fear her iron only when in peace 

It keeps our workmen idle in the street. 



*By Geo. H. Thurston. 



INDEX. 



HAP 


TER I. 


a 


II. 


a 


III. 


a 


IV. 


u 


V. 


<,i 


VI. 


a 


VII. 


a 


VIII. 


iC 


IX. 


u 


X. 


u 


XI. 


a 


XII. 


a 


XIII. 


a 


XIV. 


(,i 


XV. 


u 


XVI. 


a 


XVII. 


a 


XVIII. 


a 


XIX. 


44 


XX. 


44 


XXI. 


44 


XXII. 


44 


XXIII. 


44 


XXIV. 


44 


XXV. 


44 


XXVI. 



Pen Pictures of Pittsburgh, 3 

The Military Record of Pittsburgh, „ . . 16 

Geographical Position, 41 

Railway System of Pittsburgh, 47 

Half Century of Manufacturing, .... 53 

Growth of Population at Pittsburgh, ... 74 

Climate and Health of Pittsburgh, . . . . 79 

Boat Building of Pittsburgh, 82 

Mineralogical Position, 104 

Manufacturing Advantages, 110 

Lumber and Its Products, 118 

Glass Factories of Pittsburgh, . . ... 127 

The Coal Business of Pittsburgh, . . . . 136 

The Iron AVorks of Pittsburgh, 160 

Steel Manufacturing at Pittsburgh, . . . 191 

The Oil Trade at Pittsburgh, 202 

Lead, Copper and Brass, ....... 213 

Cotton and Wool Manufacturing, .... 216 

Manufactures from Earthy Substances, . . 218 
Manufactures from Animal and Agricultural 

Products, . 224 

Miscellaneous Manufactures, . . . . . 228 

Mercantile Interests, . 234 

Produce Business, . . 246 

Financial Institutions, 251 

The Press of Pittsburgh, ...... 261 

Benevolent Institutions, and Conclusion, . . 265 



